


Meet In The Middle

by Fairylights4672



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: But deep down he just needs a hug, Chucks an absolute bean, F/F, F/M, Fix-it fic, I have no idea where this is gonna go, I just want them to be happy :'), If you want something done right may as well do it yourself, It's gonna be wild ya'll, M/M, Newt will not take your shit, Slow Burn, Thomas is lonely, post tdc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-05-13 02:48:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 40
Words: 56,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14740616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fairylights4672/pseuds/Fairylights4672
Summary: Newt remembers it. He remembers the sleek metal of the knife easily sliding into his flesh. He remembers the sickly black views running up his arms, making him crazed and delirious. He remembers dying. Which only makes him confused when he wakes up, cured and healed. What's even more confusing is when he wakes up, only to see dead people staring back at him.Thomas still feels the hilt in his hand. He feels the weight as Newt sank to the ground underneath him. He feels the last soft breath Newt let out. He remembers Newt dying. But he can't sit still. Not when danger is calling him. Thomas has never been able to resist the pull of danger.





	1. One

He sucked in a deep breath, darkness swallowing at his vision and his lungs. He spluttered and rolled onto his stomach, coughing up the remnants of whatever food he'd last eaten. Next to him, he felt someone shuffle, and then suck in a sharp breath.

Newt opened his eyes slowly, mind whirring. 

Where was he?

"The paradise mate." Alby grinned down at him, outstretching his palm toward his old friend. Newt watched him for a moment, before everything clicked into place.

Alby. How was he here? 

The blond shuffled backward, eyes falling and analysing every new face he saw.

Ben. Not possible.

Clint. Not possible.

Jeff. Not possible.

Zart. Not possible.

Chuck. Not possible.

Teresa. Why was she here?

"Wha-what?" His voice cracked, watching the boys crowd around him. He knew these people. He'd considered these people family. They were his family. He'd laughed and cried with them. He'd watched them die. They were dead. So what were they doing here?

But where was here? Newt had no idea where they were.

"Is this heaven?" He felt the girl whisper beside him. He managed to tear his eyes away from the glowing, healthy faces of his old friends, just to glance around. They were in a huge open plain, lying under a canopy of trees, much like the glade. There were similar shaped huts and farms nearby, he could hear the trickle of a water source, and the leaves rustling of a nearby wood. They were practically in the glade.

Just without the walls.

Alby laughed softly, rolling his eyes.

"Not quite shanks. But call it what you want. We call in The Paradise." he explains softly, once again stepping toward the two, splayed out on the ground in front of him.

"But you-you're dead. We-I-" he tried, trailing off.

"We saw you die." Teresa finished quietly.

"Yeah. And you died too didn't you?" Alby sighed impatiently, crossing his arms over his chest. Newt and Teresa glanced at each other. Teresa had died? That was awful.

As much as Newt disliked the girl for what she did to them, he would never wish death on her. In fact quite the opposite. He'd wanted her to come with them: He knew she made Thomas happy. And he knew the two could have a future together. He'd hoped Thomas got that kind of a chance.

He nodded, tracing the middle of his chest where his scar should have been with the tips of his fingers. The leader cleared his throat, sitting down opposite the two.

"Right. So, when one of us 'dies', this chip here," he pointed to his wrist bone, pressing his thumb down into it. Newt watched intently, before copying the motion, feeling the sharp square underneath his pulse. "sends us here. It makes a mini flat trans, and sends us here." he repeated, motioning to around them. "Patches us up, and sends us up in another box." he explained slowly, watching Newt nod slowly every now and then. "After the trials are over for us, we're sent here to live out the rest of our days."

"So-" Teresa closed her eyes for a second. "WCKD sent you all here after you 'die', and what? You just get to live? No catch? Nothing?" she asked, drawing her knees up to her chest.

"Well, we're not jobless. There is one thing we do." Alby motioned toward a smaller hut, next to what Newt could only describe as homestead. "We watch you. From the little chip, means we can see you with tiny little cameras." Newt almost laughed, smiling, dumbfounded.

"Cameras?" He repeated.

"Yeah. Everyone who's been in the maze has one." the leader confirmed. "That's what we do in the evening. Watch over the days events, see if you're all ok. We've been following your journey since you left the maze."

"None of this is possible. It can't-" Newt grumbled, running a palm over his face. "I don't-" he glanced up. "Chuckie," he pleaded. "I saw you die." 

The boy bounded forward, coming to sit cross-legged next to the second-in-command. He took Newt's hand, placing it over his wrist. The breath caught in the boys throat as he felt the warmth of Chuck's fingers and a _pulse._

"So you're all," he tried. "We're all alive?"

"Yup." Alby nodded.

"But how?" Teresa frowned, evidently putting her science head on. "Winston," she called the slicer forward. "Newt, you both had the flare. And from what I guessed, by the time I made the cure, you were already dead," she motioned to the blond. "How did they cure it?"

"They didn't." Clint offered, coming forward slightly. "When Winston showed up, looking good as new, we were confused as all hell. But when you figured out it was Thomas' blood, it made a lot more sense."

"His blood got in mine the night I got the flare. We were all bleedin' and shit, and he offered me a drink. As gross as it sounds, I think some of his blood got in the water." he hummed. Alby turned to Newt.

"And the knife you-"

"I stabbed him with the same knife I used to kill myself with." he whispered, gazing off into space.

Newt's mind was short circuiting. Alby was alive. Winston was alive. Chuck was alive. He was cured from the disease that had plagued him for so many months. He wasn't dead and neither was Teresa. The others were, as far as he could assume, safe in the safe haven, and he'd been taken to some place that the others seemed perfectly content to grow old in. Not to mention, he could go into that small hut and watch his friends and what they were all doing. And Alby had been doing it the _entire_ time. 

"This is shucked." Newt laughed. "This is so shucked."

"I know, it's a lot to take in on the first day." Jeff offered with a grin. Newt watched his smiling eyes for a moment, before turning to Chuck and scooping him into a huge hug. The kid seemed taken a back, before hugging him back and patting his back. Newt grinned, standing up to make his way toward the others. Swaying slightly, he felt a solid chest and large hands wrap around him.

"Woah, it's ok, take it easy Newt. You might be healed but you're still weak." Alby offered, hugging him tightly, supporting him carefully.

"Got it." he nodded, glancing upward into Alby's eyes for a split second, before moving on to hug the track-hoe.

It felt so weird. But so natural. Even hugging Teresa, it felt like no time had passed, like he was just meant to feel those certain hands and that certain smell. The whole process of hugging people he thought were dead for half a year made Newt feel slightly nauseated, and he sunk down at the base of the tree, closing his eyes.

"Are you ok Newt?" Chuck asked, eyebrows raiding in confusion and concern.

"Yeah Chuckie." he smiled softly despite the situation. He'd missed Chuck.

"Come on guys. Let's go tell the others and make them some food. Leave the two to process what's going on for a bit." Alby hummed, nodding curtly to his second-in command as he led the other gladers away. 

Teresa sank down next to him, head hitting the bark with a thud.

"What d'ya think?" he whispered, turning his head slightly to her.

"I think," she whispered, "I could really do with a bit of a cry right now." the girl laughed a little sadly, eyes already glassy.

"I'll second you on that." the blond laughed, watching the sun rise as the tears began to fall.


	2. Two

"This is our homestead." Alby motioned toward the large hut, putting his hands on his hips. "It'd be better if we still had Gally, but the builders did pretty good." he hummed. Newt glanced around, watching the people move about their day. There was more than just the boys from the glade; girls scattered the field from maze B. It felt just like the glade before everything went wrong: Still. Content.

"I can't believe this place Alby." Newt murmured, watching the world go by. He'd split up with Teresa about half an hour ago, Alby having decided to take Newt on a tour, and putting Chuck and Ben in charge of showing the girl around. 

They'd been, for the most part, completely welcoming towards Teresa, albeit a little wary. But who wouldn't be?

And Newt? Well, Newt wasn't sure how he felt about her yet. From what he'd gathered, she'd made a cure, and however she'd died, it had been for the greater good. He knew it would take a while, but he didn't really have another choice but to forgive her, or tolerate her at the very least.

"I know. Isn't it perfect?" The leader smiled, an uncommon site for anyone but Newt in the Glade, as he led the blond toward the edge of the forest. He stopped and turned to Newt, who watched his eyes carefully.

"Are you happy here?" He asked. Alby watched his eyes for a moment, before humming in acknowledgement.

"Yeah. We are."

"No." The blond shook his head, gently putting his hand over the larger boys. "Are _you_ happy here?" Alby glanced down at their hands for a moment, before furrowing his brow and glancing upward again.

"Yes. I am. I'm really happy." he nodded, "I couldn't wait for you to get here Newt. I really missed you." he admitted softly, glancing back down at their hands.

"I missed you too." The blond murmured, coming forward. He was wrapped up in a tight embrace, which he happily returned, squeezing his friend tightly. He breathed in, only to be met with a welcome, unfamiliar scent. It was something Newt could only describe as Alby, and he found it completely reassuring. Eventually, to his dismay, the leader pulled away, only to sit down at the base of one of the trees. His second-in-command sat down next to him, picking at the grass.

When was the last time he'd seen grass?

"You look good." Alby commented. The blond glanced up, raising his eyebrows. "With your hair grown out I mean." the boy elaborated. "I mean.. you just look really different. Mature. You had such a baby face back in the Glade." he scoffed, earning a light smack to the arm, "But now, you look kind of like a man. You really grew up."

"The scorch changes you." he shrugged. "You look, cleaner? I dunno, Chuck's grown a lot. He's looking smiley as ever though." he laughed quietly to himself, looking for the younger boy in amongst the bustling.

"Yeah." Alby hummed. "You all look older. Gally, Thomas." He glanced up at the blond. "Thomas' grown a lot." He commented softly, watching the blond. Newt's heart sank.

Tommy. He hadn't even spared a thought toward the boy. God, he'd miss him. Not only that, but he knew how Thomas worked. Newt understood the way the cogs clicked in the boys mind, more than anyone else. But it didn't take a genius to be able to figure out that Thomas would blame himself for Newt's death. The blond coolant think of anything worse. He'd never wanted that. He wanted Thomas to be happy. He wanted them all to be happy.

"Yeah. He has. He's a good leader." he hummed, staring at the grass ahead of him.

"And you were his good seconder. He wouldn't have made it without you." Alby reached out and gingerly touched the blonds shoulder. Newt scoffed slightly, a small smile tracing his lips.

"Tommy's not very good at making it on his own. He needs all the help he can get." The blonds fingers moved up to his neck, scratching gently at his collarbone. He'd expected to feel the soft weight of the necklace, playing with it had become a habit, but he found no such thing. Newt set his jaw, trying his best to think back to _that_ night. His memory came in patches, much to his frustration. He couldn't remember much, and he just prayed that he'd given the letter to Thomas.

"You did give it to him." the leader nodded, seemingly reading his thoughts with a soft smile.

"Oh thank god." His shoulders dropped in relief slightly, letting his hand fall from his empty collarbone. His friend watched him for a moment, before furrowing his brow.

"Newt?"

"Yeah?"

Alby opened his mouth for a moment, before closing it, watching Newt carefully. 

"No, never mind." he waved it off, making a move to stand up.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Probably not the best question to ask on your first day here. I'll ask you some other time." the leader offered the blond a hand, which he gratefully took. He was gently pulled up, even so, he still swayed slightly. Alby placed a hand on the small of his back, steadying him. After a moment, he shot his friend a reassuring smile, waiting for the boy to lead him wherever they were going next.

"You wanna see the others?"

"Yes."

-

Alby pushed open the door, leading the two newcomers in, Chuck trotting after them. The room was about as big as the one they used to hold gatherings in: big enough to fit everyone in, even if it had clearly been expanded a few times. At the far wall, there was a huge monitor, taking up most of the wall, with a sleek control panel jutting out in front of it. Alby led them toward it, Newt spinning around slowly at the room.

"So, who can you see on here?" Teresa asked softly.

"Anyone." Alby hummed, flicking a switch. The screen flickered into life, static coming in steady waves from it. "For example," he murmured, typing in a number into a keypad, and pushing a button. An image of the room flickered up on the screen. Alongside it, some information was displayed.

**A5: Newt**

**Status: Non-immune (error)**

**Trials: Completed**

**Location: PTC**

"This is me?" He asked, taking a step backward. As he did so, the view of the computer on the screen got further away. "Woah." he turned his head toward Teresa, the screen turning and showing the girls startled face on it.

"So where are the cameras?" The brunette asked, taking a step toward Newt, seemingly to analyse his face.

"We think theres small ones in our tear ducts." Chuck explained. The blond glanced toward him, the image and sound being relayed back on the monitor.

"Why our tear ducts?"

"Closest they could get to our eyes I suppose." the younger boy shrugged. Teresa was frowning at the screen, with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Why is it saying error next to non-immune?"

"I don't think the computer knows how to process the cured. It says the same thing next to Winston's." Alby explained.

"WCKD hasn't looked into that?" The girl furrowed her brow.

"Not at all. They don't bother us at all. It's all computers. The flat trans, and stuff. No _one_ has ever actually been here. Why would they? We're just the waste." Alby shrugged.

"Where is here anyway?" Newt asked, becoming slightly unnerved by everything he was seeing being on screen.

"We don't know. We're thinking somewhere in the scorch, but we've never looked. Theres a line of trees around the edge. If you walk into them, you keep walking, you'll come out the other end. You walk into the North tree line, you'll come out at the south tree line. No one knows how it works." he hummed.

"So there was a catch. We _are_ trapped." Newt huffed, completely unnerved by apparent tree teleport.

"No really. I think they're more keeping us safe from the outside. Plus theres no monsters coming to kill us, so what is the point in trying to leave? We're perfectly safe here." the leader shrugged, leaning back. Newt opened his mouth, before biting his tongue. That was something he could dress later.

"We can see _anyone_?"

"Sure, with a chip. Why? Who do you wanna see?" The leader stepped toward the computer, hovering his hand over it.

"Tom!" Teresa immediately perked up. The three glanced at her, Alby raising an eyebrow. "He-" she swallowed, seemingly shrinking back, embarrassed. "He was shot."

"Wait-what?" Newt blinked, waving off to Alby. "Well go on." he encouraged. The boy nodded, typing something into the keypad and tapping the button.

**A2: Thomas**

**Status: Immune**

**Trials: error**

**Location: error**

The screen was dark. Newt exchanged a glance with Teresa, swallowing dryly.

"Try Minho."

**A7: Minho**

**Status: Immune**

**Trials: error**

**Location: error**

Minho had his head held close to Brenda's, the two of them speaking in hushed whispers.

"-healing right?" The girl murmured. Minho sighed in the low light. Judging by the whirring in the background, Newt guessed they were in a berg.

"Yeah. But slowly." the boy hummed, itching his chin. Minho only did that if he was nervous.

"But he'll live?" Brenda crossed her arms over her chest, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah."

"Good. See you at dinner." The girl patted his shoulder lightly before sauntering off into the shadows. Teresa glanced at Newt again, frowning.

"How do we know if they're talking about Tom?" The girl pushed, coming closer to the screen.

"One second." the leader hummed in concentration, pressing a button that sent Brenda walking backward toward Minho. Their conversation rewound, past the nervous chin scratch. Alby stopped it when Minho began to walk backward from the girl.

"How's Thomas?" Brenda asked, meeting the boy in a quiet corner.

"He's alright."

"But he's healing right?" the girl murmured. Minho sighed in the low light. 

"Yeah. But slowly." the boy hummed, itching his chin. 

"But he'll live?" Brenda crossed her arms over her chest, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah."

"Good. See you at dinner." The girl patted his shoulder lightly before sauntering off into the shadows.

"Oh thank shuck." Teresa put a hand on her heart, breathing out a sigh. Newt furrowed his brow, making a mental note to watch Alby's fingers next time.


	3. Three

"So theres no way? None at all?" He asked, watching the boy eat his bread slowly, methodically. Newt picked at his food, appetite having left him, despite this being the first good meal he'd gotten in months.

"No. No way. They did try, but it's all complicated, and they wouldn't want to accidentally kill the whole thing by just trying to communicate." Chuck explained.

"So you've never tried? Sending them a message? Anything?" The blond tried exasperatedly. The boys sighed, placing a hand on the blonds shoulder.

"I know it's hard right now. Everyone wants to communicate with them originally but we really can't risk it." The blond huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No one seems to take any risks in here. I don't get it." he ran a hand through his hair.

"Get what?" Chuck asked, tearing his bread up.

"How you can just sit here and watch? It would drive me mad, I couldn't just watch people I love in danger and not help." he waved his arms around to enunciate his point.

"I get it." the boy explained. "It's not easy to begin with. I know when you were in that mall, running? I wanted nothing more than to help." he sighed slightly, eyes glazing for a second. "But Alby explained to me, that the worst thing that could happen is that they're hurt beyond repair, which is rarer than you'd think. Even if they 'die', they're most likely going to be fine. We know where they'll end up, and we know it's safe. The others thinking that they're dead is just a small sacrifice, for them being ok." he motioned best he could.

Newt set his jaw. He wasn't convinced. So Chuck continued,

"I know it's not ideal," he shrugged, "but heartbreak for safety? I know what I'd choose." the younger boy met his eye, and the blond saw a flash of something. Furrowing his brow, he leaned forward, Chuck complying and doing the same.

"Which one?" he murmured.

"Heartbreak. I hate it here." the boy admitted lowly. "I hate sitting around and doing nothing."

"Then why haven't you tried to leave?" Newt frowned. He sighed, glancing around to make sure no one was listening.

"My opinion is..unpopular, believe it or not. Something..I don't know what..but something shucked Alby up. Ever since he got here, he's gone mad about safety- like Gally used too. He won't let anyone try and get out of here- hell, he won't let anyone even mention it. If you even mention it, you get put in the slammer for a night without food or water." the boy rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"A dictatorship?" The blond blinked in disbelief. Not Alby. Alby had been such an amazing leader back in the Glade, always listening to peoples opinions and suggestions. There was no way he'd become so callous and dictating. He refused to believe it.

"No," Chuck glanced toward the floor. "Not exactly. When it comes to anything else, suggestions and opinions are greatly appreciated. But no one's allowed to mention escape. Most people gave up trying to think of a way to get out anyway. He thinks that we were safe here, and we could make it our home." the murmured tone told Newt that Chuck disagreed. "But I don't think that's true." he cleared his throat and leaned forward again, meeting the blonds eye. 

'They got to the Safe Haven last night Newt." despite himself, Newt's chest flooded with relief, like an invisible knot that had been pulled taught for months had finally unravelled. "I've seen it. That," he tapped the table with his finger to enunciate his point. "That's where I want my home to be. Not here. We may be safe, but we're still trapped. We're still apart of WCKD here, even if they are gone."

"Chuck.." The blond trailed off, words escaping him. He wanted nothing more than for Chuck to be happy. The kid was still so young, and if Newt could, he'd give the boy the world. He'd give him anything.

"As mean and selfish as it sounds, I really hoped you live and make it here." The boy murmured, picking up his bread again. "If anyone can get through to Alby, it's you."

"I can't make any promises Chuckie." the blond sighed, watching the leader from across the dinner hut. Alby was in the middle of a game of cards with Ben and Zart, glancing over his cards at the blond every now and then. When they made eye contact, Newt nodded curtly, returning his attention back to Chuck. "Plus, how do you know you're not the only one that feels this way?"

"Almost all of us want to leave. We talk about it all the time. But we can't."

"Why not?" The blond crossed his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, one: We don't know how. Two: We don't know how to do it without Alby catching us, and three: we don't really have anyone to lead us. If we had Thomas, or Minho or someone, maybe we'd stand a chance." he mumbled, picking at his nails. Newt hummed, rolling his sleeves up and standing.

"Chin up Chuckie. I'll see what I can do." he nodded. The boy looked up, awe and hope lacing his eyes. The older boy smacked him lightly on the shoulder, winking and walking away.

He knew it was too good to be true.

-

He watched the moon slowly coming out of the covers from behind the clouds. Based on where it was in the sky, Newt guessed it was probably about three in the morning.

He couldn't sleep.

Taking nightmares out of the equations, he felt uneasy. He couldn't hear Frypans snores. He couldn't hear Harriet softly hissing at Brenda to stop fidgeting. He couldn't feel Thomas' warmth next to him, couldn't feel the weight of the boys leg underneath his, acutely aware of Newt's need to elevate it sometimes. It was wrong. Everything was just slightly off kilter.

These people were his friends, he knew that. He'd known some of them for three years. He'd been close with Chuck. He'd gone through hell with Teresa. He'd loved Alby at one point. But they weren't them.

They weren't Frypan, who had been there, next to him, since day _one._ They weren't Brenda, who had saved his life too many times to count, and who he trusted with everything. They weren't Jorge, who he knew always had his back, no matter what. They weren't Gally, who, although they'd been parted for six months, was one of the most loyal and kind-hearted people he'd ever met. They weren't Minho, who Newt knew would cross the ends of the Earth for him, And they weren't Thomas, who Newt would trust to catch him if the brunette told him to jump from a skyscraper. 

So he got up and went to see his friends.

-

He watched the keypad, tapping in a few numbers. Thomas was sleeping. Or unconscious still, Newt couldn't be sure. Minho was sleeping. Gally was sleeping. Frypan was sat in bed, carving something from wood. He most likely couldn't sleep, just like the blond. Sonya was sharpening a blade, watching her girlfriend sleep peacefully. Aris was splashing cold water in his face.

Newt sighed, eyeing the rewind button. It was a bad idea, he knew it was, but he couldn't resist. So, tapping in the code: A2, he rewound backward and backward, and kept going until he saw image again. He went backward a little more, stopping when his eyes widened.

Staring back at him, was his face. He knew it was him, but, it made him bite his lip with an emotion he couldn't quite describe. The blond hair was matted, eyes large and completely dilated, almost black and inhuman. Black liquid was dripping from his mouth, skin sickeningly pale, darkly contrasted by the veins crawling up it. 

Hesitating, he tapped play. He watched himself struggle, watched himself stab Thomas, watched himself plunge the knife into his own chest and sink to the floor with a last gasp of his best friends name. He watched Minho and the others get there a moment two late, sinking to his body as Thomas walked away. Emotion threatened to rise to his throat, but Newt choked it down, only imagining the blame all of his friends were putting on themselves.

He watched Thomas go back. He watched Ava Paige die. He watched Janson reveal his infection. 

Hatred twisted in his gut, fists clenching white with fury. He was almost bewildered by the prospect of someone that awful being allowed to live.

He watched Teresa fight back. He watched Thomas get shot. He watched Teresa give up the serum for Thomas' life. He watched Janson get ripped to shreds.

Newt's nerves began to pound in his chest, for a reason he couldn't quite understand. He did, after all, know the outcome of this. Thomas made it out. Teresa didn't.

He watched the two make their way to the roof. He watched the fire. He watched them give up. 

The kiss took him by surprise, and he caught himself frowning. It confused him. Maybe he didn't know Thomas as well as he thought he did. Maybe Thomas really did still love her. Maybe it was a spur of the moment thing. Why hadn't Teresa mentioned it was his question. And why did he feel so strange about it?

He watched the berg appear. He watched Thomas get pulled on. He watched Teresa fall. And then the screen went black.

Newt's shoulders dropped and he frowned at his feet where he was sat on the floor. He felt strangely numb, the only thing threatening to break his emotionlessness was a dull ache in his chest.

Longing.


	4. Four

His eyes shot open, only to relax when he saw what it was that had woken him up.

"Newt did you sleep in here?" Teresa motioned to the hard ground in front of the monitor Newt was lying on. The boy yawned, running a hand over his face.

"I couldn't sleep." he mumbled tiredly. Guess I fell asleep." he shrugged it off, sitting up slowly and clicking his neck. 

"Well, I got you some breakfast?" The girl offered sheepishly, handing him an apple. The blond watched her for a moment, before taking it from her and patting the space next to her. Teresa took it up, watching the boy bite into the fruit.

"Chuck tell you about Alby too?" the girl asked, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. The boy hummed, nodding.

"Yeah. What you thinking?" He watched his fruit, glancing at the girl over it every now and then. She set her jaw in thought, furrowing her brow.

"I'm thinking, I don't want to stay here. I don't think I can just live here whilst our friends are out there thinking we're dead." 

"Exactly my thinking." the boy motioned toward her with his apple.

"Well, great minds think alike." the girl laughed, sitting back slightly.

"Precisely." he scoffed. "We always were the brains of the operation weren't we?"

"Sure were." Teresa laughed, watching him, loosening up the slightest bit. "They would have been screwed without us."

"Oh 100%." Newt laughed. "The smart ones always bite it."

It felt odd, laughing and joking with Teresa. After so many months of hatred toward the girl, and then such a short reunion before the two of them were ripped away, Newt hadn't had time to think about re-evaluating his relationship with the girl. She had tried to help in the end. And she'd saved Thomas' life. That definitely put her in Newt's good books. The kiss had proved to him that Thomas obviously felt strongly toward her, and she made him happy. That was enough for Newt.

Teresa's laughs faded, so Newt asked her,

"Why did you kiss Tommy on the roof?" The question seemed to take the girl aback, as she watched him and blinked a few times before responding.

"Because..I-I like him?" She frowned, as if worried that wasn't the right answer.

"Hm." he acknowledged, nodding.

"Why?" She asked, frown embedding in between her pale eyes.

"It just took me by surprise I suppose. I dunno." he admitted, biting into his fruit. Well, that wasn't exactly a lie. It had confused him. But it had also made something pull at his stomach, and his pupils dilate just that little bit more.

"Fair enough. I suppose it took me by surprise too." she scoffed lightly. "I couldn't believe I was doing it." she admitted shyly. "I'm glad I did though. If he thinks I'm dead, theres no other way I'd want him to remember me by." 

He knew she meant well, but there was something about the way Teresa said that, with a soft smile on her lips, that made his heart catch in his ribs for a second too long.

"Come on." he advised, standing and offering a hand up, which she took gratefully. "Long day ahead of us."

-

"Hey Newt, could I have a word with you?" He felt Alby's hand on the small of his back. He turned, lodging his shovel in the soil and nodding.

"Sure, I actually wanted to talk to you about something too." he hummed, letting the leader lead him away from Zart and toward the rim of the forest.

"Oh yeah?" He raised his eyebrows in confusion. Newt nodded, rolling his sleeves up, revealing his forearms.

"Yeah. What did you want to talk to me about?" He asked, cocking his head slightly to the side. Alby suddenly looked sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Alby?" he pressed.

"Did you mean it, in the Glade?" He asked. Newt just looked at him, confusion crossing his eyes.

"Mean what?" The blond asked.

"When you told me you loved me."

 

_Newt felt the soft rise and fall of Alby's chest beneath his back, and he assumed the boy was asleep. But he had to know. It was now or never. Turning onto his stomach, head resting against the leaders collarbone, he glanced upward._

_"Alby?" He murmured, testing the water. The boy kept his eyes closed, humming in acknowledgement. "Theres something you need to know." the blond swallowed, watching the boys face morph into confusion and slight concern as he opened his eyes._

_"Everything alright babe?"_

_"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine." he quickly waved off any concern the leader might have had. "I just-" he tried, sitting up slightly. Alby put his hand on the small of his back, giving him a moment to steady himself._

_"Take your time." the leader encouraged, unusually gentle toward the blond._

_"I just, I think," he hesitated. "I think I love you."_

 

_The next day, the box had opened. And Thomas had ran. And he'd grabbed Newt with him on his way past._

 

"Of course I did. You were everything to me." he answered truthfully, furrowing his brow lightly. Why was Alby talking about this? The blond's feelings for the leader had been blown out fairly quickly after his death, not having time to mourn for him, or time to tend to his broken heart. "Why?"

"And what about now?" The boy pushed. "You don't love me anymore do you?" 

"I-Well I-" he stuttered slightly, bewildered and confused. "I thought you were dead, mate, I-kinda..moved on I guess." he murmured, watching the boy. Alby sighed, glancing at his feet. Newt knew that wasn't what Alby had wanted to hear, but he couldn't lie.

It made sense for Alby to still have feelings for Newt. He'd been watching him for the past six months. But Newt had thought he was dead, what was he supposed to do? Spend six months brooding over someone dead? Being upset wouldn't bring Alby back.

"Do you love him?" The boy asked.

"Who?" Newt asked, confusion etching its way into his features.

"Thomas, obviously." Alby sighed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Newt blinked.

What? Why in gods name would he think Newt was in love with _Thomas?_ Stupid, reckless, charming, funny, gorgeous, sharp Thomas.

Pfft. Not a chance. Why would Alby even suggest something like that?

Before he could answer, Alby continued.

"I've seen the way you look at each other. It's ok if you do, I get it."

"Alby what are you on about?" Newt frowned, watching the boy.

"Well, I just thought-" he tried. "I kinda thought you two were together. From the way you were always touching and how you looked at each other and stuff." he elaborated with a sigh. Newt almost scoffed at the lunacy,  taking a hand to Alby's shoulder and squeezing.

"Alby, I don't love Tommy." he grinned. The boy watched his eyes for a moment, before hie own widened slightly.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." he nodded. 

"Cool." Alby shot a grin at his feet, before clearing his throat and straightening. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh, nothing." the blond waved it off. "It's not important right this second."

 


	5. Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about not posting a chapter yesterday, I was in ye old city of London. But I have returned to my good ol' country living and I'm ready to post again lmao
> 
> I thought it was about time I gave you guys a little gift ;)

Thomas awoke, body feeling heavy as lead. He didn't have the motivation to move anything but his eyes as he looked around the hut. It had been three days since he'd woken up in the safe haven, and he was angry at himself.

They'd wanted this so badly. They'd all wanted this. Thomas had wanted to find somewhere as perfect as this, he always had. So why couldn't he shake the feeling of absolute blackness seeping into his veins from his heart? He was where he'd always wanted to be. But maybe that was the problem. He'd wanted to find the safe haven.

But Newt had wanted to find it more.

No one was acting like he was, and the leader couldn't wrap his head around it. Minho said it was a bittersweet thing. They'd made it, but left so much behind.

Thomas hated that. How could he talk like that? 'Left so much behind?' Two of their friends were dead. That wasn't leaving something behind, that was lifelines ripped from them and beaten into the dirt.

His hand twitched below him, and he took it as a subconscious order to get up. With a swallow, he swung his legs over the side of his cot, and slowly got up, sighing in slight relief that his gunshot wound wasn't causing him too much trouble. Thomas grabbed his only other shirt; one that Vince and Newt had found for him on a search, and slung it over his shoulder.

The brunette trudged out of the small building, making his way toward a shabby wooden building. He glanced around, frowning slightly. People were farming, chatting, going about their day, as if they weren't all broken. Thomas wondered how they managed to keep all of their pieces together.

He tapped twice on the coarse wood of the hut, coming to a stop. Minho popped out of the doorway, slinging his own shirt over his shoulder.

"Mornin'." he offered the brunette a soft grin, turning on his heel to fall into step with his friend. Thomas kept walking, glancing over the runner in habit.

"Morning. Sleep well?" He asked, slowing slightly as a twinge from his side reminded him of his wound.

"Not really. But I've had worse nights." The asian offered. "What about you?"

"Stitches kept me up all night." Thomas lied. Well, he hadn't lied. The stitches _had_ kept him up, they were constantly itching, but he couldn't pretend he hadn't spend the night, sitting on the floor instead of his bed, running his fingers over the small cylinder around his neck, watching the cure to the end of the world bubble upward in the vial as he turned it over in his other hand. 

His two best friends. Gone, memories and thoughts and dreams and wants all contained within two cylinders: one the result of something awful, and the other the bloodied cure of said awful thing, and years upon years of ambition and pain.

But Minho didn't need to know that.

"Itch like all hell." he scoffed as they reached the edge of the pool. The pool was a small reservoir where everyone washed; they had two more for drinking water and washing up, and the two boys had started a trend of going together, the silence of being alone and left to their thoughts, way too much for either to take.

Thomas pulled off his shirt, leaving both by the small bank of sand circling the edge of the deep pool. Minho pulled off his own shirt, humming at his friends side.

"It's not looking so bad." he offered with a shrug, slipping into the water with a slight shiver. The brunette followed, wincing when the cold water hit the deep wound. He watched Minho swallow before adding, "Shoulders healing too."

Thomas glanced down at the twisted slit in the flesh of his left shoulder, bloodied and pale around the outside. When the brunette realised it was bad enough to scar permanently, he'd almost broken down then and there. As if he needed any more reminders of what he'd lost. He hummed, wrapping a hand around the letter, slung around his throat. Carefully peeling it off, he placed it next to his pile of shirts, and turned back toward the asian, before pulling up his feet from the bottom and letting his head sink below the surface.

It was almost dark under the water, and his body told him that dark was bad, he should go back up to where he could see. But he fought down the survival instinct that had been hammered into him after years, and looked around.

Thomas had discovered he quite liked it below water. It was quiet, still. Usually he'd hate that kind of environment, anywhere where he could think too much was a place he didn't want to be. But he got the idea that his friends would have liked the water.

Chuck would have liked having diving competitions, seeing who could make the biggest splash. Teresa would have liked the gentle lapping of the water, laying back and feeling the sun on her face, listening to the sound of life going by. Newt would have liked staying underwater with Thomas. The brunette definitely took him as one for the tranquility of the underwater.

The leader put his feet on the bottom, resurfacing with a deep breath. Minho was splashing some water on his face, hair getting gradually more matted and flat down as he did so.

"You can hold your breath for ages mate." The asian commented, barely sparing him a glance. Thomas shrugged it off, humming slightly.

"Big lungs I guess."

"Well duh. How else do you think we did all that running?" His friends scoffed, turning to him.

"Good point, good point." The brunette nodded. "But Newt was a runner, and he's not exactly all muscles and big lungs ya know?" They had all made a silent pact to keep talking about their friends, as if it were to keep their memories alive, but the group had been struggling to talk about them as if they were dead. Sometimes they couldn't bring themselves too, but other times, they just forgot. Thomas knew that he had turned to his left more than once, where Newt should have been, where Newt had always been, only to have cold metal hit the spot between his collarbones, and a lump in his throat form that had to be swallowed down.

"Newt was a good runner cuz he has long legs though." Minho shrugged. "You know, before he got his limp, Newt was faster than me." he commented.

"Really?"

"Really. Fastest in the Glade." the asian grinned, almost proudly, recalling his best friend happily. "Although he'd never admit it." he waved off. "Most modest person I've ever met, is Newt." 

"Well duh," Thomas chuckled, soft smile forming on his lips at the thought of the blond. "I don't think he knows what being 'proud of yourself' even is." They laughed, both smiles remaining on their lips as they recalled their best friend.

"Hey Thomas?" 

"Hm?" The brunette brushed some hair from his face, glancing at his friend.

"Do you," he swallowed. "Do you believe in anything after death? Like do you think Newt ended up anywhere?" He asked, almost sheepish and embarrassed. Thomas furrowed his brow for a moment, humming. 

"I don't know. I'd love to think so. I'd love nothing more than to think that they all ended up somewhere perfect. But, no matter where they are, I reckon Newt's watching us right now." he watched his friend as the runner met his eye.

"Do you really?" He asked, a lack of skepticism in his eye as he watched the brunette.

"Yeah. And I bet he'll laugh when I do this." 

"Thomas what are you ta-mphm!" Minho spluttered as the leader dunked his friends head under the water, snorting when Minho came up dazed and ready for revenge.

Newt did laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No chapter six tonight, super super sorry. I know I missed a night already, and I wanted to get another chapter up tonight but my head hurts, depression sucks and I have to get up early tomorrow for my girlfriend lmao. So, once again, super sorry, but I'll try to get an ok chapter up tomorrow! Thanks for all your support! <33


	6. Six

Newt drummed his fingers on his thigh, chewing on his lip. He'd been trying to think about how to approach Alby with the topic of leaving for almost two weeks now, and he was getting nowhere. Every time he went to talk to the boy, he'd chicken out, or Alby would distract him with asking his opinions on things, or chats about their history. The blond was getting seriously frustrated, but didn't particularly want to end up in the slammer. So he kept thinking.

"Newt," Alby's voice almost made him jump out of his skin, and the boy whipped around at the speed of light, before putting a palm to his scarred chest to check his heart hadn't actually stopped.

"Jesus shucking christ Alby don't pull klunk like that." he breathed a sigh of relief, slumping back in his chair. The leader huffed out an apology, before coming to sit opposite him in the abandoned dining hall.

"I just wanted to talk."

"About?" the blond pushed.

"You." Alby sat back in his chair, watching the second intently. Said second raised his eyebrows in slight confusion.

"Me? What about me?"

"You've just seem off. When you came up from the box you seemed like your old self, albeit a little more mature, but now you seem closed off. I guess a little stressed." Alby explained, eye contact never once faltering.  Newt chewed on his lip. He knew there was no point in lying, not when Alby had given him a segway into the subject he'd been trying to bring up for the past fortnight. Fuck it.

"I just..I've been meaning to talk to you about something." he murmured. "It's been occupying my thoughts a lot recently I guess."

"Ok" the boy leaned back. "So shoot."

Newt huffed, glancing down at his hands. He clenched and unclenched his fists, huffing out another breath and clearing his throat.

"Ok, so, I know you don't really like anyone talking about this, but," he tried his best to avoid eye contact, "we've been talking about a prospect, of, leaving this place." he chose his words carefully.

"Escaping?" Alby raised an eyebrow, face suddenly set like stone. Newt tread carefully. He once prided himself on knowing Alby better than anyone, knowing how he thought and what his priorities were. But, if Newt had changed, surely that meant that Alby had too? Could he persuade the boy like he would have once been able too?

"No," he tried, "Not escape. Like you said, theres nothing to escape from." 

"Then what are you talking about?" The leader crossed his arms over his chest.

"I just,"Newt tried. He'd played this situation over in his head many times, thinking over all the possible ways he could approach it. Dropping his shoulders slightly, he decided to be honest and go for the heartfelt approach. "I spent six months with them," he motioned toward the hut that held the screen, "And, as much as I love all of you, I went through hell and back with them." he watched Alby's face carefully. "They're my family. You're their family too. We've always been a team, that the way we worked. And, now, we're separated. And we don't wanna be." he explained softly. Alby watched him for a moment, before sighing.

"Newt, I know that whoever you've talked too has probably made me seem like the bad guy in this situation, because I have such hard rules on talking about escape. But you have to understand, that this was like a second chance for me. A second chance to be a good leader, and keep the people I love alive. We're safe here, we're not in any danger and we can survive. But if we try to leave, who knows what'll happen. We're most likely inn the scorch, in which case we'll have no idea where we are, no map, and no way of finding the others, along with the danger of cranks. Not everyone is immune in here Newt, you of all people should understand that no one should have to go through that. I just want to keep you all safe." He reached out and took Newt's hand, eyes pleading for him to understand.

"Alby," the blond said softly. "I get it. But you're a great leader. And sometimes, being a good leader isn't just about keeping people safe." he murmured, sitting onto the edge of his seat and brushing his knees against the leaders. "I mean look at Thomas: three people died on his watch, but he's still a good leader, and still got a bunch of people to the safe haven. And I'm fairly certain he doesn't know the definition of the word safety." Alby breathed a laugh. " To be a good leader, you have to listen to peoples opinions. And if the majority of people are saying they want out, you have to listen." He squeezed his hand. "It's really dangerous. And dumb. And ridiculous. But at the end of the day, we're a family. And families are supposed to cross the end of the Earth for each other. So, if thats what it takes, and if the majority want to go find the rest of our family, we _have_ to go."

"Newt.." the boy trailed off.

"Alby, you can stay here if you really want." the blond pressed on. "But I can't stay here. I don't care how safe we are, those people are everything to me, and I can't sit by and watch whilst they blame themselves for my death."

"Even if we could get out, what would we do then? We have no map, nothing." Alby frowned. Newt furrowed his brow, tapping absentmindedly on their intertwined hands.

"Well, then we'll just have to get them to come to us."

-

Newt closed the door of the hut behind him, turning and jumping back with a yelp. In front of him was a crowd of about twenty, Chuck and Teresa leading the pack, staring at him expectantly.

"Well? Did you convince him?" Teresa asked. Newt held his tongue, watching the hopeful faces.

"Maybe. Don't get your hopes up." he murmured. They all burst into cheers, smiles cracking and hugs being shared. Apparently a 'maybe' was a breakthrough for them.

"This calls for a celebration!" Chuck cheered.

"Wish I could Chuckie." the blond ruffled his hair, feeling a firm hand on the small of his back as he was led away. The crowd parted and watched Alby push him away from them. "But I got a night in the slammer."

-

The blond listened to the soft hum of life go past from outside the cell, and Newt hummed in approval. He sat up, frowning and taking a good look at the clearing. It was perfect. Green, free, with just the right conditions for growing crops and keeping animals. The sun was just hot enough, and the rain was never heavy enough to put a downer on life, and there wasn't a wall in sight. So why did he have the overwhelming urge to leave?

Because he couldn't take it. He'd seen Minho lying in his cot, staring at the ceiling with silent tears running down his face, until Thomas came knocking on his wall, when he'd crack into huge grin and give the brunette his best sarcastic comment. Newt missed his best friend more than anything. It wasn't fair. They'd spent so long trying to get the runner back, and as soon as they were reunited, Newt had been tugged away from them mere hours after.

He had to see Minho again. He couldn't put up with the knowledge that Minho was shedding unnecessary tears, because he was alive dammit! And nothing had been Minho's fault!

Thomas was a whole other story. 

Newt hated the way Thomas carried the letter around all day, handling it with the upmost care as if it was the only thing of the blond he had left. Newt just wanted to tell him that he didn't need to do that, he wasn't just a memory, he was _right there_. Only a screen away.

He missed Thomas. More than anything. He missed the way they'd catch each others eyes after something had happened, silently checking the other for any signs of distress or pain. He missed the way Thomas always knew exactly when and where his leg was paining him, and would offer his help in every way he could, even if Newt did sometimes push his help away rather harshly when he was grouchy. He missed the way their hands would brush together every time they passed something to each other. He missed the eye contact and Thomas' voice when Newt stayed up with him on his watch, the way their conversations would make Newt feel like the only person in the world. He missed that rare smile, the one that reached and twinkled in those dark eyes.

Fuck.

Alby was right.

He was in love with Thomas.

And he was screwed.


	7. Seven

Thomas ran his thumb over the letter around his neck, humming softly to himself. He was watching the light cascade over the large rock that stood in the middle of the camp, and he smiled privately to himself as he watched the sun fall onto Teresa's name.

"Thomas?" He felt a soft hand on his shoulder, and he twisted around to see Brenda, chewing on her lip nervously.

"Oh, morning Bren'." he shot a grin at the girl, making room for her on the bench he was sat at. The girl nodded, seining her legs over and sitting next to him. "You alright?" He asked, putting a hand on her knee. He didn't like this new serious look on Brenda, he much preferred the sarcastic witty girl he'd always known.

"Yeah, of course. I just wanted to talk to you about something." She swallowed, drawing her knees closer to herself.

"Shoot." the brunette offered. Brenda watched his face for a while, frowning deeply and humming. Scratching her chin slightly and clearing her throat, she sat forward, eyes coming to rest on the large slab of rock.

"Theres just something I need to tell you." she explained softly, more to herself than Thomas. Still, the leader nodded, egging her to continue. "I..I know that," she coughed, "I know that when we kissed, at the party, we were both drunk, and you were thinking about Teresa," Thomas nodded again, furrowing his brow slightly. Where was she going with this? "And I know you really loved Teresa, but I seriously can't take this anymore," she huffed exasperatedly. "Thomas I love you. And I know you don't feel the same way, but I just needed to get it off my chest." she risked a glance toward her friend, who was only staring at her blankly.

Brenda. Liked him? Loved him?? Well, shit. Thomas loved Brenda, more than anything, but not like that, never like that. He saw her as more of a sister than anything. And the whole time he'd thought she'd had a thing for Gally. What was happening? What should he say? 

Subconsciously, his hand trailed back up to the necklace, and he wondered what Newt would feel. Wait. What? What did Newt have to do about this? This was about him, Teresa and Brenda. Right, Brenda.

"I know you two kissed on the roof that night." the girl murmured, watching the small ways Thomas' face changed through emotions. 

"She kissed me." was all he could murmur dumbly. His thumb twitched over his the cold metal of the necklace, and he swallowed dryly. The last thing he wanted was to upset Brenda.

"Wait..so..y-you didn't want to kiss her?" The girls dark eyes glinted in hope, and the leaders heart broke. He didn't want to get her hopes up, but he couldn't stand to let her down.

"I..uh..well.." he stuttered, dumbfounded. 

"Thomas." the girl pressed. The brunettes brain went round in a circle. What should he say??!!

"Y-you want to..to be with me?" was all he could get out. Well done Thomas. Great conversationalist skills there.

"Yes dummy." Brenda laughed slightly, eyes still glinting with hope. "If you want too." she seemed to shrink into herself slightly. "I mean, if you still need time to get over Teresa, I get it, and I won't hold it against you. I mean, you might not need time at all, you might just not want to be with me at all, and I get that too." she began to ramble, getting worked up. Thomas gently squeezed her knee, bringing her back down to Earth. 

"I'll think about it." he smiled reassuringly.

No he wouldn't. He wouldn't at all. Why did he say that?? What was wrong with him?? Why would he do that to someone?? 

He was neck deep in his own shit now.

-

Thomas frowned at the clouds, trying his best to think out his feelings.

Brenda. He just didn't love her that way, he knew deep down that he couldn't lie to her. He had to do the right thing, as soon as possible. But she'd looked so hopeful, Thomas wasn't sure he could crush her hopes like that. Groaning, he cursed himself for being so damn stupid.

"Newt would be having such a go at me right now." he grumbled to himself. "Ok, ok think Thomas think." he sat up, closing his eyes for a second in an attempt to clear his head. He knew he couldn't lie to Brenda, but he also knew he couldn't bring himself to tell her. Why couldn't he just keep his damn mouth shut?? He wasn't even sure why he'd said half the stuff he had. "She kissed me?" Who cares?

Well he guessed Brenda did. But technically he did kiss Teresa back, which meant that he had to have loved her right? Or at least felt something for her. But then again, he had kissed Brenda back, and he certainly didn't have feelings for her. In his defence, he was drunk and thought she was Teresa, which only seemed to further his point about having some feelings for the scientist. 

Wracking his brains, he thought back. He definitely had had feelings for her in the scorch, he couldn't doubt himself on that. The way his heart caught in his throat when she smiled at him proved that. But then she'd betrayed them, and Thomas' heart had mourned a hole in it. The real question was, who had come to patch the hole up?

He knew the answer to that. It had been Newt, the blond had helped him patch up the hole Teresa had left, as well as helped him through everything else. He really couldn't ask for a better friend.

So, after Teresa had barged (or been kidnapped) back into his life for those all too brief hours, had any feelings returned. No. No they hadn't. Thomas didn't feel the same way he had kissing who he'd thought was Teresa, as when they'd kissed on the roof. His heart only ached with a different loss. But why? Who was it aching for?

It was aching for Newt. Thomas wouldn't have thought it was possible six months prior, but he was fairly certain the blond had left with a _chunk_ out of his heart, not just a hole. God he missed that blond.

He missed the way the two of them would joke around in the darkness of night, staying up to keep each other company on their watches. He missed the way Newt would laugh that private laugh, that seemingly only Thomas could get out of him. Newt had two laughs: his fake one, which was louder and a lot more frequent than the other, which was the real laugh; a quite almost giggle, that only the brunette had ever manage to coax out of him, when they were alone one night. He missed the way the blond would be so grouchy when he woke up, grumpily throwing things at Thomas every time he was given the job of waking him, but carefully aiming them to avoid the leaders head. 

Wait. Maybe he wasn't in love with Teresa, or Brenda.

Oh.

Fuck.

He was in love with Newt.

And he was screwed.


	8. Eight

Newt furrowed his brow, shifting his weight from his bad foot as he watched intently. Teresa was stood next to him, arms crossed over her chest and watching with her jaw set.

"What do you think he's thinking?" She asked, breaking the silence. The two had been watching Thomas staring off into space for the past half an hour, and had taken it upon themselves to figure out what was going on with him.

"Something dumb probably. It's Thomas." He offered, scoffing slightly.

"Good point." she laughed, easing slightly as Brenda sauntered toward the brunette sat on the log.

"Thomas?" The girl asked him. Newt watched the leaders kind eyes fall upon his friend, and he couldn't help but smile slightly. He knew how much Thomas cared about Brenda, saw her as a kind of little sister, and Newt had always thought it was really sweet how they looked out for each other. Teresa, apparently, had other ideas, as Newt soon discovered when the girl swallowed and began to drum her fingers against her bicep.

"Oh, morning Bren'." Thomas offered as the girl sat down next to him, nervously picking at her nails. The blond frowned slightly. That wasn't a good sign. "You alright?" Thomas seemed to have the same concern as the blond, as he placed a reassuring palm on her knee, steadying her slightly.

"Yeah, of course. I just wanted to talk to you about something." Brenda muttered, keeping herself to herself as best she could. Teresa and Newt exchanged a glance, confused and slightly concerned. 

"Shoot." The brunette played the part of reassuring brother quite well, Newt thought. A nervous chin scratch later, Brenda finally found the courage and cleared her throat.

"There's something I need to tell you. I..I know that, I know that when we kissed, at the party, we were both drunk, and you were thinking about Teresa," Newt spared a glance toward the girl, who blinked slightly, taking an involuntary step backward as if she were being accused, "And I know you really loved Teresa, but I seriously can't take this anymore,Thomas I love you. And I know you don't feel the same way, but I just needed to get it off my chest."

Woah. That was not what Newt was expecting. He opened his mouth, seemingly just to close it again, and he turned toward Teresa. But the girl was frowning deeply and staring at the two of them intently, waiting for Thomas to reply. Newt bit down on his tongue, knowing she was waiting to see wether Thomas still felt anything for her.

Newt watched Thomas' hand trail up to his collarbone, and it was only when he was aware of the action that he realised his own hand had been subconsciously running over his throat. Sharply, he shook off the thought and pulled his hand away. Luckily, Teresa seemed too engrossed with the conversation to noticed the seconder glance down at his feet and clear his throat.

"I know you two kissed on the roof that night." Brenda continued, egging Newt to glance up sharply. Teresa had gone pale, paler than usual, and she was practically gnawing on her bottom lip, watching Thomas' face for signs of anything that could give away his feelings. After a few more moments of dumbfounded silence, Thomas finally got out,

"She kissed me." Newt almost smacked himself in the face with second hand embarrassment. Teresa seemed to take it as a blow to the chest, stepping backward and closing in on herself.

"Wait..so..y-you didn't want to kiss her?" Newt's heart dropped like a stone as he watched Brenda's eyes fill with hope, and he knew that if he ever found Thomas again, he'd give him a thorough shake to the shoulders and a possible punch to the face.

"I..uh..well.." Get a straight answer out for gods sake man!!

"Thomas." Brenda pressed. Newt watched Teresa become smaller and smaller with every word, and there was nothing he wanted more than to reach out to her and hold her, tell her that Thomas was only telling her that to make Brenda feel better, but the blond knew she shouldn't listen. 

"Y-you want to..to be with me?"

"Yes dummy. If you want too. I mean, if you still need time to get over Teresa, I get it, and I won't hold it against you. I mean, you might not need time at all, you might just not want to be with me at all, and I get that too." Brenda began to ramble, which Thomas stilled with a touch. Newt was almost bitter at the brunettes ability to ease anyone with the simplest brush of touch.

"I'll think about it." Thomas offered with a smile. Newt closed his eyes for a moment, just taking a second to get over the stupidity that was his crush. When he opened his eyes, Teresa had vanished, but before he could look for her, he heard a slam of a door and a choked sob.

"Oh Tommy," he sighed, shoulders drooping as he sat himself down on the floor. "You've really done it this time."

-

Newt wasn't sure how he felt as he watched the cogs turn on Thomas' mind. He felt awful for Teresa and Brenda; neither of them deserved to be played and fooled around like that. He was angry at Thomas, there were a million ways he could have handled that situation better, but no, now he'd just crushed someones hopes and sparked unrealistic hopes in someone else. As for himself, Newt had the tendency to not think about it, and suppress his feelings until the last possible second, and he knew both Teresa and Brenda had bigger issues than he did, so he didn't even spare himself a thought.

Newt really hoped Thomas had the guts to call it off before anyone else got hurt.

"Newt would be having such a go at me right now." Thomas groaned. Newt laughed sadly, rolling his eyes.

"You have no idea." he picked at his nails, watching the wheels spin behind Thomas' eyes. He watched guilt, anger, fear, sadness, confusion, and uncertainty slowly wash over the brunettes face as he thought out his options, fingering at the cold metal around his neck every now and then. With the occasional groan or grumble, Newt watched that mind work at its best, methodical, analytical.

What Newt was not expecting, was realisation to dawn on Thomas' face. The blond frowned to himself, cocking his head to the side in a silent question.

"Shit Thomas. Shit." the brunette breathed running a hand over his face. "Of course." he grumbled. "Of course!" The leader sank back in the grass, waving his arms around frustratedly. "If it was gonna be anyone it was gonna be you wasn't it?"

Newt furrowed his brow, confusion etching it's way into his face. He heard the door open behind him, and he turned.

"Newt you gotta come quick!" Chucks shit-eating grin made the blond jump up immediately, no questions asked, and he followed him from the hut quickly.

"Whats going on Chuckie?" He asked, closing the door behind him as the boy tried to egg him to go quicker. Newt's leg wasn't having it though, and the blond guessed the boy could use a few lessons about patience anyway.

"You got to Alby!" The boy practically squealed, clapping the older boy on the back. "You, my friend, are a hero."


	9. Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> whoops if you guys were frustrated at me last chapter just wait lmao
> 
> Also I had to write this chapter twice fuck my actual life on a stick

"Shit Thomas, shit." the brunette groaned, shoulders sinking. "Of course, Of course!" He sank back into the grass, huffing. "If it was gonna be anyone it was gonna be you wasn't it?" He sat, thinking for a moment. God, he was such an idiot. Out of all the people he could have fallen in love with, it had to be _him_."God Newt, what are you doing to me?"

"You gonna tell me what's going on?" Minho asked, sitting down next to him. Thomas jumped out of his thoughts, snapping back up right and putting a hand to his heart.

"Jesus Min', don't do that."

"Sorry mate. I just wanna know what's going on is all." He shrugged. "Brenda told me what you said." Thomas sighed at the grass in front of him. "You fucked up this time mate."

"I know, I know." The brunette admitted. "I don't know what I was thinking." he sighed. "I was just nervous, and felt so bad about letting her down." 

"Well you have to let her down sooner than later, you've got her hopes up now." Minho scolded softly, focusing his attention more on the ocean than his friend.

"I know. I will, I will."

"So what else is going on?" The asian asked.

"What do you mean?" the sharp turn of the leaders head proved to his friend that he knew exactly what he meant.

"Theres something eating at you. Tell me." The runner ordered, waving his friend on. Thomas just blinked at him for a moment. He knew it was good to talk about things, and Minho would never judge him, he just didn't want to come off as insensitive.

"I.." he started softly, picking at the grass in front of him, "I was thinking about how I love Teresa and Brenda, and like, when I loved Teresa. Because, I think I loved her in the scorch, a- and then it kinda died out when she betrayed us." he offered quietly. Minho turned to him, raising his eyebrows in confusion.

"So, you're mad at yourself because you don't love her anymore?" he attempted. Thomas shook him off.

"No, I just realised who I'm actually in love with." he grimaced slightly, sighing and setting his chin on his knees.

"Oh, Minho shrugged, turning back to the ocean. "Newt." Thomas' head shot up, as did his eyebrows.

"How did you.." he trailed off, sure that he was missing something. How could Minho know? hd someone said something? Did someone know? No, that was impossible. The runner just scoffed, waving him off.

"Oh please. You two have been making lovey eyes at each other since day one. To be honest, I kinda thought you two got together the six months we were apart." He shrugged. 

"You knew I was in love with Newt, before _I_ knew it?" He clarified. Minho shrugged, before furrowing his brow after a pause.

"If you didn't love Teresa anymore, why did you kiss her on the roof?" He asked, turning back to his friend again.

"I dunno. I guess it was a spur of the moment thing." he shrugged back, putting his head back on his knees.

"I don't get it." The runner admitted, after another pause. "You have two beautiful, kind, smiley girls fawning over you, and you choose the grumpy, blond dead best friend?" 

"Well that's the thing." Thomas stopped trying to filter his words, letting loose on his friend. "With Brenda, I can't see her as anything more than a friend: someone I can have a laugh with, someone I can have a deep talk with. And with Teresa, I can't see her as anything less than a lover: someone who I'd kiss and care for." he explained. "And yeah, Brenda is gorgeous, and witty and sharp, and Teresa is intelligent, and kind and beautiful, but... Newt is my best friend. I can have deep talks and a laugh with him, but at the same time, I can easily see myself kissing him and holy shit why have I never noticed how much I want to kiss him before?" He asked himself. Minho rolled his eyes slightly, bringing him back to Earth with another question. 

"So you're telling me that, you'd rather have Newt throwing things at your head in the morning, instead of Teresa bringing you breakfast in bed or something?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Honestly yeah." Thomas admitted, plucking some golden grass from the ground absentmindedly. "Because grumpy Newt is cute."

"How did you not realise you liked him until two minutes ago dude, how oblivious are you?" The runner seemed almost impressed at his lack of awareness. "So what are you gonna do?"

"Well unless you have a ritual to bring back people from the dead, I don't think theres much we can do." he deadpanned, earning a smack over the head.

"I mean about Brenda you shank." 

"Tell her the truth."

"You're gonna tell her that you'd rather go out with your dead best friend than her?" It was Minho's turn to get a smack over the head. 

"I was thinking more along the lines of 'Brenda I love you, you're amazing, but I can't see you like that. I'm so sorry I lead you on, I don't want o make any excuses. I know I won't let this affect our friendship, and I just hope that in a while you can find it in your heart to forgive me for being such a dick." Minho hummed, nodding slightly in approval.

"Jorge's gonna kill you."

"Yeah. I know." Thomas groaned, lying back in the grass again. Suddenly, a sharp throbbing came from the pad of his thumb, steady and slow. He blinked at it, frowning in confusion and slowly straightening again. By the way Minho was staring at his own thumb, and experimentally pressing down on it, he'd gotten the same thing in his. Thomas furrowed his brow, pressing down on it. He felt the sharp edge of something in his thumb, and he glanced up.

"What the.."

"What is it?" Minho asked, standing up. His friend followed, and the beat seemed to skip when he was pointed toward the ocean. 

"Is it the ocean?" he asked, outstretching his thumb toward the shore. It skipped again, and the two boys frowned at each other. A scuffling behind them had them turning, only to see Frypan, Brenda, Gally, Sonya, Aris and Harriet frowning. Brenda was watching everyone else outstretching their thumbs, a soft frown embedded on her features.

"Thomas, do you know what's going on?" Sonya asked sheepishly, taking a step toward the boy.

"Not a clue." The brunette admitted, staring, bewildered, at the pad of his thumb. 

"Well then let's go figure it out." Minho smacked him on the small of the back. Thomas nodded curtly, and began to lead the group down the hill, to find the source of the throbbing.


	10. Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, the frustration continues. If you go back to the previous chapters, you can come for my ass when you realise what sentence Newt left Thomas at, and what sentence he came back at w h o o p s i e

Newt followed Chuck into homestead, where Alby was pacing back ad forth, drumming his fingers on his biceps. Teresa was watching him, Zart stood behind him with a frown on his face.

"Alby," Chuck announced their presence, and the leader glanced up, stopping his pacing.

"Oh good," he turned toward the two, coming closer. "Newt, you got me thinking," he admitted, stopping in front of the second-in-command. He sighed slightly, glancing at his feet, "the choices I made, were dumb. And my reasoning was stupid too," he cleared his throat, before the blond could ask any questions, "But," he cracked into  grin, "we won't go into that now." he lightly smacked the blonds bicep, and Newt furrowed his brow, confused at Alby's sudden change of heart. Judging by the looks on the other's faces, they were too. "Now," The leader straightened. "Do you have any ideas?"

Newt opened his mouth, still dwelling on the sudden change of character. Still, he shook it of to worry about later, clearing his throat. "I do." He nodded. "But it's risky." he admitted. 

"It's about time we had some risk around here." Teresa offered, coming to stand next to the blond. Alby acknowledged her for a moment, before humming. 

"What we risking?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"The monitor." Newt winced inwardly. Alby set his jaw, watching his friends features for a moment, before nodding. 

"Alright," He strode past the others toward the door. Newt exchanged a confused glance with Teresa, before jogging to catch up with the boy. "What are you thinking?" He asked as Newt fell into step with him.

"Well, the chip in our thumb, it's a flat trans. So, it has a destination. The box," he motioned toward the gate set in the ground a few yards away. "Right?" He checked that he was making sense.

"Right." Chuck nodded behind Alby. 

"And the computer has every chips data in it's system," the blond continued. "So, we change the destination to another chip."

"Won't that just send them here?" Zart frowned.

"No," Teresa murmured, catching onto the seconds thinking, "The computer isn't powerful enough. It'll just be like a honing beacon." She looked to Newt for approval that her theory was right, and he nodded.

"We assign each one of them someone here, they can come find us." He finished, stepping into the monitor room after Alby.

"-until like two minutes ago dude, how oblivious are you?" He heard Minho ask. Newt wasn't paying much attention to the conversation his two friends were having, assuming it was about Brenda and not thinking much of it.

"You know how to do that?" Alby furrowed his brow, crouching next to the blond when they reached the screen. Newt lay on his back, underneath the sleek slab of metal jutting from the wall.

"No, that's the risk." he admitted. "I'm hoping it'll be like hot wiring a car." he took a glance at the flush panel above him. "Can someone get me a crowbar?" Chuck stood up and hurried from the room, allowing Newt to tune into the conversation going on above him.

"Well unless you have a ritual to bring back people from the dead, I don't think theres much we can do." Thomas murmured. What the fuck were they talking about?

"I mean about Brenda you shank." Minho shot back. Newt sat up slightly, risking a glance to where Teresa was furrowing his brow at the screen, lips pursed slightly. That was another thing he'd have to comfort someone on. He considered making a list of all the people he'd have to pull aside at some point. Then Chuck passed him back the crow bar, setting down a rusted tool box in case the blond needed anything else. What a smart kid. 

Newt pried off the cover, met with tens of wires. He groaned slightly, patting the side beside him on the floor. He picked on Teresa, knowing she needed something to take her mind off of the Thomas situation. Plus, she was _sciencey_ ; who knew, maybe she knew something about wiring.

"Teresa, get under here and be my torch." The girl grabbed a torch from the box, laying in next to him under the panel and switching on the light.

"Thanks." She murmured, pressed shoulder to shoulder with her old friend.

"Don't sweat it." The blond waved her off, trying to discern what wire meant what. He took ahold of one wire, following it with his fingers until it met a large box. Then he noticed that almost all of the wires led to it. "So, this must be the box," he murmured. Doing a rough count, he figured out that there was a wire for everyone who'd been apart of the maze trials.

"Look," Teresa shone the torch toward the wall of the panel, where all the wires began. Above some, were small green lights, and above others, were red lights. Next to every one, there was the same code that had been present on the screen. A7, Green. A5, red. B4, Green. "Dead and alive." She observed.

"So, you cut one green wire, one red wire, and you get, a honing signal to each other." Newt hoped. Teresa nodded. 

"How do we pair them?" She hummed. 

"Let's just do it randomly." Newt hummed. "Could I have some wire cutters please Chuck? Two pairs." He held his hand out, feeling the weight of the two sets of tools in each. He handed one to Teresa, who carefully touched a wire. "This could go so wrong." The blond admitted dryly. The girl took a deep breath, finding her own wire, and holding it between the two claws of the tool. She held her breath, closed her eyes and snipped. When nothing happened, she let out the breath, before snipping at Minho's wire and intertwining them together. 

"Ah!" She squeaked.

"What?" Chuck asked as Newt snipped his own wire and tied it together with someone elses. The blond jumped slightly when a dull throbbing came from his thumb.

"It-It worked!" he laughed, surprised by his own success. Teresa laughed with him, before beginning to snip at others and intertwine them. Similar mutters of surprise came from Zart, Alby and Chuck when their wires sparked with someone else.

"Thomas and Minho are getting it too." Alby commented, before pausing and laughing. "They all are."

"Get in!" Zart punched the air, Newt exchanging a knock of the fist with the girl he was shoulder to shoulder with. 

"Alby, I think people are coming for answers." Chuck commented, hearing the dull murmur of voices outside.

"I got it, I got it." The leader waved him off, leaving the room with Zart in tow, small grin on his face despite his unexcited tone.

"So, who's pared with who?" The younger boy asked eagerly, watching Teresa shine the torch at the wires. 

"Let's see here," she hummed. "I'm with Minho, Chuckie, you're with Gally," she went quiet for a moment, and the seconder risked a glance at the boy, but he was still grinning from ear to ear. Newt believed without a doubt, that the young boy had never felt a speck of anger toward Gally, and he had a lot of respect for him for it.

"Alby's with Fry'," Teresa continued with a soft smile toward the younger boy, "Newt, wheres yours?" She asked herself softly, moving some wires out of the way, "You're with Tom."

Newt closed his eyes for a moment.

For fucks sake.


	11. Eleven

Newt watched, chewing on his lip, Teresa on one side and Alby on the other. The three of them were trying their best to contain their nerves, watching as the group on the screen tried to figure out where this sudden throbbing in their thumbs had come from. Brenda, Gally, Frypan, Thomas, Minho, Jorge and Vince were gathered on the beach, everyone else observing them from where the sand dispersed into grass.

"It's pointing toward the ocean." Brenda observed.

"Or something on the other side." Frypan murmured, arms crossed over his chest. Newt chewed on his lip, praying that they figured it out. Alby put a hand on his shoulder, clearly catching onto the blonds nerves.

"Don't worry Newt. They're smart." he squeezed reassuringly. "And even if they don't figure it out, we'll just go to them." The seconder hummed in acknowledgement, chewing on his nail.

"We know whats on the other side. Death and destruction." Gally tried to reason.

"I gotta agree with him here," Brenda nodded toward her friend. "The only people that have it, are people who were in the mazes. Which means it's gotta be to do with WCKD, right?"

"But theres no way anyone from WCKD made it out of there." Minho shot back. Newt risked a glance at Thomas, who was strangely quiet. The brunette observed his thumb, slowly turning it toward the ocean and then away again. Suddenly, a sharp frowned pulled at his brow and one hand shot to the necklace around his neck, the other burying into his pocket where Newt assumed the cure and Chucks' figurine stayed. Apparently, he shook off whatever thought he was having and retracted his hands from the mementos.

"It could be a trap," Vince stated the obvious.

"Well what else could it be?" Jorge hummed, scratching at his chin.

"The way home." Thomas whispered. Newt cracked into a grin. Of course it would be Thomas.

"Huh?" Vince furrowed his brow at the leader.

"In the maze, that beacon we got from the griever," The brunette motioned toward Minho, who nodded. "It beeped, and got faster when we got closer. It was a way for the grievers to find their way back home." He explained, frowning at the circle.

"So, you think it's trying to lead us 'home'?" Frypan put the word in air quotations, before returning to his normal stance, only with a deeper frown on his brow.

"Back to the maze?" Gally questioned.

"No." Thomas shook his head. "I don't think it's leading us home. I think..I think _we are home_." Newt let out a breath he didn't realised he'd been holding, turning to Teresa, who was grinning from ear to ear. Alby had a small smile on his smile, but he seemed more distracted by watching the blond than the screen.

"You think someones trying to find their way to us?" Minho seemed less skeptical of the brunette, despite his usual ability to play devils advocate.

"I think they can't find their way to us soon their own, because otherwise we wouldn't have gotten the throbbing too." He passed, watching his friends confused faces. "We need to meet them in the middle."

-

"Alby," the blond caught the leaders shoulder as he went to follow Teresa out of the hut, leaving the small boat of people to leave the safe haven to investigate the throbbing of the thumbs. Alby turned, letting the door close behind the girl as he raised his eyebrows at his friend.

"Newt."

"You gonna give me an explanation?" The blond shifted his weight onto the good foot, crossing his arms over his chest.

"For..?" The leader asked, slightly confused.

"Your sudden change of heart. What made you change your mind?" 

"You, I already told you that." Alby sighed slightly.

"No, I didn't. If I had you wouldn't have locked me in the slammer." the blond shot back, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh no, I was already convinced at that point. I just wanted to lock you in the slammer." The boy shot his friends an unusual cheeky grin, earning a punch to the bicep.

"Mean." he scoffed slightly. Then he paused, furrowing his brow slightly. "Why did you even have those rules in the first place?" He risked.

"I told you. I just wanted to be a good leader." Alby's stance suddenly became defensive, crossing his larger arms over his larger chest. Not that Newt was intimidated; everyone knew his lanky figure had _nothing_ to do with how well he could hold his own.

"But what else is it? You're not telling me everything, I can see it." the blond challenged. The stance and lack of eye contact confirmed his suspicions.

"I just wanted to keep everyone safe." The leader shrugged meekly.

"Who are you trying to protect?" The seconder asked. There was always someone: no one became that hard on rule breaking unless there was something they thought they were protecting with it. Alby opened and closed his mouth a few times, before sighing and deciding to analyse Newt's bad foot as he talked.

"I-I know everyone can hold their own here. So can you," the motioned weakly. "But I just wanted to protect you." he admitted softly. "It's different: watching someone on a screen. You think you know them. And I thought, that when you got here, although I didn't know when that'd be, I'd have to protect you, because that's what I did in the Glade. I looked after you, and I didn't think anything could change when you showed up here.'

'And then, when you told Thomas you had the flare, and you told him that Minho came first, I had to stop looking through the eyes I looked at you through in the Glade. And I realised, you didn't need protecting anymore. I was so caught up readying to protect you when you turned up, I completely missed you becoming a man. I didn't even realise how strong you are, until you managed to break into the highest security building left in the world, went with Thomas, when you could have just got the cure, blew some people up, freed a bunch of kids, and then jumped out of a skyscraper, all whilst literally  _dying_. I just, I was so blown away." he admitted. "I just, I didn't know how to feel. I didn't understand how I'd missed you becoming," he motioned to his friend, " _This_. Because you're not the boy that needed me to look after him anymore. And I don't know how to feel about that.'

'But by the time I'd realised that, I'd already made this place as safe as I could for you." he sighed softly. "You don't need anyone to look after you." he laughed, almost sadly at his feet. Newt sighed softly. Stepping forward, he took the taller boys face between his palms, coaxing his eyes upward.

"Alby," he murmured softly, "Everyone needs someone to look after them." he offered the boy a smile that was weakly returned. "Just because I'm not as shielded as I was in the Glade, doesn't mean I don't need someone to hug me when times get rough." 

He wheezed slightly as Alby wrapped him up in a tight embrace. Eventually, he decided it wasn't worth the struggle and relaxed into the touch, sighing into the familiar scent, that he still couldn't quite get over the fact he was smelling again. 

"You look pretty hot with a handgun anyway." Alby whispered, earning a snort.

"Why thank you." He felt the leader pull away reluctantly, before putting on his stern frown.

"Right, so the others are coming," he motioned toward the screen behind the blond. "So how do we get out of here?"

"I got an idea. But we'd be risking more than the monitor." 


	12. Twelve

Thomas ran a hand over his face, sighing slightly.

It was crazy, he knew that. None of them had any idea what they were being lead into, and yet they were still all blindly following him. His mind was screaming at him to call this off, it was insane and it could get everyone killed. But his heart and the pulse in his thumb were telling him that he had to get across that ocean, that there was someone trying to get to them.

He'd smacked himself for even thinking that it could be Teresa, or Newt. It was impossible, he'd watched them both die. So he'd shaken it off, deciding that they'd both agree with him on his decision to risk his friends life on a mission back to the scorch to discover what the thumb throbbing was.

"You're insane." Thomas turned on his heel from where he was packing food, only to see Gally, arms crossed over his chest. Thomas huffed at his feet, nodding. "This could get everyone killed, you know that don't you?" The boy stepped toward the leader.

"I know." Thomas nodded at his feet, continuing to pack up the food. But Gally wasn't having that. He knelt next to the brunette, initiating eye contact.

"Then why are you doing it? Please, I need to see your way of thinking here. They might all be prepared to just follow you into hell, but I'm not." he scoffed lightly. "So what's going through that brain?"

"I just," Thomas swallowed, knowing his only reason would be the cause of ridicule, "It's a feeling, in my gut. I don't know what's on the other side, and I know this is really dangerous. My head is telling me it's way too risky, and that I could get everyone killed. But my heart is telling me we need to go," he held out a hand when Gally opened his mouth, his friend holding his tongue, "I know, it's shucking crazy. But I've always trusted my heart, which probably isn't the best way to lead, but I mean, it got us here." he motioned around them. 

"Yeah but at a cost, Thomas." Gally frowned. "We lost family, good people." It was his turn to silence Thomas with a hand out, "You know, back in the Glade, I didn't have many friends," he sighed slightly, sitting on the floor to prove he was planning on staying a while, "When I got up from the box, I was a dick, I'll admit. Anyway, I immediately got labelled as 'the bully', and they cast me out before they even gave me a chance." Thomas watched him, packing put aside for a moment as he gave the boy his undivided attention. 

'I kinda thought, I already have this image, may as well live up to it. So I started being a dick." he shrugged. "The only person willing to look past this wall, was Newt." The brunette glanced up and met the boys eye, furrowing his brow slightly, "He didn't have to be so nice to me, he got shit because of it, but he didn't mind. He said I was a good person, he said I was a good friend.' Gally looked away, gazing off into the distance.

'I lost one of the only people I had ever considered family," he murmured, almost coldly, "And now, now I'm just starting to see you all as family too," he admitted, glancing down at his fingers in embarrassment, "I don't know if I'm ready to loose that again."

"Gally," Thomas swallowed tightly, hesitantly placing a hand on the boys shoulders. Part of Thomas still didn't believe that he'd ever be in the position where Gally, would open up at him, but he supposed times had changed. For the better, he decided, definitely for the better. "I know it's risky, and stupid." he nodded, "But we have to go. We'll be careful, and we won't loose anyone." he reassured, not entirely believing himself.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep mate." Gally scoffed slightly.

"I can keep this promise. We're not loosing anyone else. We won't make any more mistakes."

-

"Ready?" Minho came to stand next to him, nudging his shoulder. Thomas hummed, doing a quick headcount of the small group leaving for the scorch. Minho, Gally, Frypan, Brenda, Jorge, Sonya, Harriet and Aris.

"Yeah. Ready." Thomas hummed, patting the small of Minho's back once. The asian grunted in acknowledgement, crossing the deck toward the ship. 

"Thomas," he heard Vince's voice behind him, and the leader turned, watching the mans face morph into a soft fondness. "You'll be careful, won't you?" He patted the boy's bicep, raising his eyebrows.

"Course. That's my middle name." Thomas shrugged, earning a chuckle.  
"You better all make it home, or I'll throw you in there." The man warned, motioning toward the ocean.

"Yeah, yeah. We will." The leader nodded.

"Good." Vince hummed. "And if you find any supplies, try and get them back here. Just don't put anyone in danger whilst you do it." He seemed to be listing, and Thomas felt like he was listening to a lecture from his dad.

"Ok." he nodded, trying to drop hints that the boat was waiting for him. Vince hummed, did a once over, and hummed again.

"Alright. Stay safe Kiddo, don't have too much fun." he chuckled, taking a step backward.

"Don't miss us too much." He grinned at the man, before swinging a rifle over his shoulder, earning a beat from his thumb as he turned toward the boat. Clambering on, Frypan helped him up the last step.

"You good with your Dad there mate?" The cook scoffed, earning a smack on the chest.

"I think our Tommy-boy almost got grounded." Minho cracked out a grin, the brunette rolling his eyes and trying not to overthink the use of the nickname. No one had dared call him Tom or Tommy after that night (everyone called it that), for fear that it would make him angry, or bring up emotions and memories that he'd been trying his best to suppress. However, Thomas was aching to hear the happy voice, sounding like butterflies on a summers day, calling after Tom and laughing, jogging to keep up with him, or the warm British chuckle murmuring to Tommy in the dark of the night, when everything but the two of them lay still and the moon crystallised the world around them.

"Oh please, as if you'd be able to keep Thomas anywhere." Brenda scoffed, patting his bicep on the way past with a Sonya in tow. The two hadn't had the chance to talk yet; he would definitely need to do that soon. 

"Alright alright, enough banter," Jorge stepped out from the helm of the ship, clapping his hands together to attract the attention of the teenagers. "We've got a signal to investigate."


	13. Thirteen

"Teresa?" Newt knocked on the door of the hut.

"Yeah, come in!" The blond pushed open the door, only to find Teresa pulling on a shirt. The two had always had that weird thing together, Newt couldn't have cared less about her being in a bra in front of him. Back in both the scorch and the glade, Newt had had to pull multiple boys eyes away from the girl, and he'd never really understood why he'd found no interest in her. Everyone else did, so why didn't he? But, when he'd discovered his crush on Thomas, the boy had come to the conclusion that he swung the other way. He swung the other way, _hard._

Teresa had always known that the blond couldn't have cared less about seeing her without a top on, and so found no shame in changing in front of him. Never had, and probably never would.

Oh god. Newt was her gay best friend. God dammit.

Right, back on topic.

"What's up?" The girl asked, tugging on a hoodie.

"I just wanted to check on you." The blond put his hands in his pockets, avoiding eye contact. "I know that the whole Thomas and Brenda thing kinda got to you." he admitted softy, scuffing the ground with his foot. The girl nodded, humming slightly. Glancing down, she set her jaw.

"It did. I mean, I knew he'd have to get over me eventually." She rubbed the back of her neck, sitting down on the bed and motioning for her friend to join her. So he did. "I just didn't think it'd be so soon." She sighed. "I mean don't get me wrong, I want him to be happy. And if Brenda makes him happy, then he should be with her, I just, I guess it's the same as with Alby and you. It's frustrating and sad, watching someone get over you and move on, because they think you're dead. I want to scream at him." She laughed sadly, Newt humming in acknowledgement.

"Tell me about it." he scoffed. "You know he really did love you, don't you?" He asked after a pause, glancing at her.

"Did he though? You heard him. He won't even admit that he kissed me back." She sighed slightly.

"That's because it's Thomas, and he has a habit of making things awkward and saying the wrong things." That eared a laugh. "Listen, those six months we were apart, he'd talk to me about you all the time. I don't know if he loves you now, I'll admit, but he did. I know it." He hummed.

"What did he say about me?" She asked sheepishly.

"Just about how despite everything, he still thinks about you, and still cares about you. He told me because he thought I was the only friend that wouldn't have a go at him for having feelings toward you." The blond explained.

"Did you have a go at him?" She asked, smiling softly. The seconder scoffed.

"Of course not. Can't pretend it didn't annoy me a bit though." She laughed softly, "Like yeah Tommy I get it, her eyes remind you of the sea, go be a romantic poet somewhere else, I'm trying to sleep." She snorted, smacking his chest lightly.

"He said that?"

"He said worse. I swear, he was quoting Shakespeare for some of it. It was _bad_." he laughed, the girl scoffing.

"Do you think he's gonna be happy with her?" She asked after the laughter died down. Newt hummed in thought for a bit, before furrowing his brow.

"I'm not sure yet. To be honest, his happiness is all that matters to me." he shrugged lightly. Teresa nodded.

"Definitely."

"But hey, maybe you can ask him yourself." He shrugged, squeezing the brunettes shoulder.

"I'd like that."

-

"If I remember correctly, the first time we tried this, Jake got sliced in half." Zart frowned skeptically, the whole group of fifty staring down at the box. Newt's plan hadn't taken very well with most people, almost all of them keen to keep this second chance at life that they'd been given.

"Yeah, and the box doesn't go down when someones in it." A girl spoke up from the front. The blond knew her well enough from Aris, Rachel's loud opinionated voice could be heard from miles away. "This won't work."

"Why not though?" Teresa came to stand next to Newt, challenging Thomas' counterpart from across the gap.

"Because whoever goes down there, will either stop the box from moving, or will get sliced in half." She shot back, defensively crossing her arms over her chest.

"But that's only because WCKD was actively trying to stop us from getting down there. You said yourself, WCKD never came here after building it. There's nothing, no one, to stop us." She reasoned, Newt nodding toward her in agreement.

"But how do you know it's not automatic?" The girl with dark eyes and straight hazel hair tried to reason. She looked like Thomas' type.

"We don't. That's the risk." Newt admitted, "Which is why I'm going." he shrugged.

"Woah, wait what?" Alby intervened, holding a hand out.

"Well, it's my plan, if it goes wrong, I have to pay for it. No one's dying on my hand." He held up his hands in defence.

"Yeah, but we don't want you dying either." The leader laughed, almost as if Newt was kidding.

"Well, this is the only way out. You see a way out in the infinite loop of trees mate?" He crossed his arms over his chest, raising his eyebrows.

"I'll go." There was a voice amongst the crowd, and the people in front of Chuck parted so that he could make his way to the front. Teresa's eyes widened, and she glanced at Newt, expecting him to do something.

"No way Chuckie." The blond immediately shut him down, watching relief seep into the girl next to him.

"Why not? It's not like I haven't been in danger before." The boy shrugged.

"No. It's not happening." Teresa put her hands on her hips, shifting her weight on the side toward Newt. The boy frowned them down like he was frowning down his parents. Newt watched him, wondering why the look felt so familiar.

Oh. Of course. Thomas. Chuck had looked up to that boy from the moment he ran into the maze. Newt would have been a fool not to realise that the whole reason he'd ended up there in the first place was from trying to be like Thomas. And now, here he was, staring danger in the face and doing what everyone else was telling him not to do.

"Chuck, you know you don't have to be a martyr to be apart of the team." He murmured softly, and Chuck's face softened in confusion.

"Isn't that what you both are?" He asked softly, the two of them exchanging a glance.

"Well," Teresa tried, "Yes, I suppose, but you don't have to be." She explained. "And you don't have to prove yourself to anyone. You've been a martyr once, you don't need to risk everything for real this time." She gently squeezed the boys shoulder. Chuck frowned, slumping slightly and nodding reluctantly. Newt ruffled his hair, before turning to Alby, who had rope in his hands and a frown on his face.

"You're sure you wanna do this?" He asked, hesitating.

"Yep." The blond nodded, lifting his arms up to allow the boy to tie the rope around his waist. When Alby had pulled it tight, he gave the blond the best reassuring smile he could. "I'll be ok." Newt reassured him, walking to the boxes edge. Behind him, Teresa, Chuck (because he wanted to help), Alby and Ben pulled the rope, giving him a nod.

The blond stared down into the blackness below him, swallowing tightly. "Jesus christ." he muttered to himself. "And I was supposed to be the sensible one." He grumbled, before stepping off of the ledge.

For a moment, he was free falling, breath leaving him and air enclosing him. There was a second when he felt weightless, like he was a feather, before the rope pulled taught and he snapped back up right. The sudden snap winded him, as he gripped onto the rope around his waist, and tugged the torch out of his waistband. Switching it on, he illuminated the walls around him.

He was in an elevator chute, as expected, but he wasn't dead. Which meant his theory was right, or so he prayed. Shining the torch downward, Newt estimated there was about another thirty feet to go until they reached the top of the box. Then, glancing up, squinting at the light, he guessed he'd gone down about ten feet already. Forty feet. Manageable.

"Newt? Are you ok?" He heard Teresa call from above.

"Yep, I'm fine!" He shouted back. "We're looking at about a forty foot drop." he relayed back.

"That's manageable." Alby hummed.

"Can we talk about manageable when you haul my ass back up there please, I think I cracked a damn rib." he grumbled, wincing when the rope was pulled taught, as the group began to tug him back toward the entrance.

"And no people slicers?!" Rachel called.

"No, no people slicers from what I can see." he shone the torch toward the wall, nodding to himself when he saw nothing that looked like 'people slicers'

"Good that."


	14. Fourteen

"We got everything?" The blond pulled up next to Alby, who was overseeing the group lugging bags and packs to the lip of the chute.

"I think so, I've counted three times." Alby hummed, nervously picking at his nails. "And we've got everyone, I checked." he hummed, running onto the balls of his feet and back. Newt took Alby's hand away from his other, squeezing it tightly.

"Hey, it's gonna be ok." He murmured soothingly. "This will be ok, you have nothing to worry about." Alby nodded slowly after a swallow, taking a deep breath. Newt decided not to draw his hand away just yet, as the contact seemed to relax his friend, so he kept their fingers intertwined.

"You're right. You're always right." the boy scoffed slightly. Newt laughed softly, shrugging.

"Yeah. I am." that earned him a nudge to the shoulder.

"Wheres Teresa and Chuck?" He asked, glancing at the blond.

"Just coming. We were trying to talk some sense into Chuck about not having to get himself killed to be worth something." he sighed slightly. It was so sad that someone so young and to think that way, and Newt would do anything to change it or shield Chuck. "Tommy seriously got in his head."

"Thomas got inside everyone's head." Alby shrugged. "Even yours."

"Whats that supposed to mean?" The seconder frowned, Alby humming as he watched the group ready in front of them. 

"Well, you're the complete opposite to him. You're sensible, and you almost never doing anything without considering all possible outcomes of it first." He explained. "Thomas is as reckless as reckless gets. I just never imagined someone as grounded as you could get swept up in someone like that." He shrugged. Newt furrowed his brow as he thought over Alby's words.

"Thomas is like a hurricane. He sweeps everyone up in his path."

"Well you're right with that one." Alby hummed, giving the blonds hand a final squeeze before letting go, watching as Chuck and Teresa made their way toward them.

"We ready?" Teresa asked, adjusting the bag on her back.

"Yeah, we were waiting for you." Newt patted her bicep on the way past, the three of them following the leader toward the gap in the ground. 

"Is everyone ready?!" He called, a chorus of conformations coming back. "Alright," he nodded. "Newt, you're staying here last to make sure the rope holds." he turned to the blond. Alby had been extremely anxious about this, and had gone over the plan about ten times since Newt had been hauled up from the box the day prior. However, they all let him go over it again, just to make him feel better. "I'll go down first, catch the bags and packs, and open the hatch on the top of the box, and get them in. Then one by one, you all go down the rope, and make your way from the box into whatever room there is, and you wait there until we're all there. Good that?" Another chorus came back, and he nodded curtly. 

Turning, Alby grabbed the forty-five foot long rope (It hadn't been too hard to find), and tied it securely to one of the handles on the top of the hatch. Then, tugging on it to make sure it was taught, he nodded, grabbing a hold of the rope.

"Be careful." Newt advised him.

"I will." The leader rolled his eyes, before pushing the rest of the rope down the chute and jumping down, shimmying down the length of chord with his hands and feet. The whole group remained silent for about twenty seconds, before they heard the soft thump of Alby landing on the roof of the box.

"You ok?" Rachel called out, peering into the chute, despite the darkness shrouding her vision.

"Yup!" Alby called back. "Send down the packs, I got the door open!" He shouted. Newt nodded at them, the group moving as one.

One by one, people gave Alby a fair countdown, before throwing down packs of food, supplies, bedding, weaponry (with more care than the rest). Eventually, when all the packs had been caught and moved into the bottom of the box, the group was left with nothing but the clothes and the bags on their backs.

"Ok," Newt rolled his sleeves up, kneeling beside the tied rope. "One by one, slide down it like a fireman pole. Don't let go of the rope, no matter how much it hurts your hands, and when you hit the bottom, call up to the next person." he ordered. The others looked at each other, all waiting for someone else to jump first. Teresa rolled her eyes, and grabbed a hold of the rope. She grinned at Newt, something still fairly new to him, but still, the blond found himself grinning back.

"Sayonara suckers." She saluted with a scoff, before throwing herself down the hole, rope pulling tight as it took her weight. Newt rolled his eyes fondly. Of course Teresa would be the one to make it seem like fun. When a soft thump came from the other side, and then a "I'm down!" The others began to grin and step forward.

Rachel was next to grab the rope, stepping off the lip with a cheer, and she squealed all the way down. "It's actually really fun!" She laughed.

One by one, people threw themselves down the hole, some cheering, some screaming, and some coming up with really bad one liners before they jumped off. All in all, with everyone laughing, and with the occasional complaint of rope burn, everyone had quite a bit of fun. However, Newt stayed on task, making sure the knot hadn't come loose with every jump, and that it was in no danger of snapping. 

When there was just three left, Zart grabbed a hold of the rope, giving Newt a grin and jumping down. The blond heard the boy shimmy down the rope. Suddenly, he heard a cracking like a whip, and the rope snapped back, coming loose. There was a collective yell of terror from everyone at the bottom, Zart and Newt, as the boy threw himself toward the rope, grabbing ahold of it just before it hit the ledge.

"Newt!" He heard Alby yell.

"Zart are you ok!?" The blond asked, ignoring the leader.

"I'm ok." the track-hoe called back, surprisingly calm. Newt swung a leg over the gap, jamming the only foot he could, his bad one, into the door, and pulling back with a groan of pain. 

"Don't move." He called through a grimace, pulling back to try and get more leverage on the rope. Chuck, the last one beside Newt, was there in an instant, grabbing the cord and tugging backward with the blond, groaning with the effort. "Bloody hell." The blond began to notice the only leverage they had, shaking, as they slowly tugged back. 

"We're almost at the handle." Chuck grimaced with effort, Newt turning back and swinging the rope over the small metal bar. The two of them, with grunts of efforts, tied the rope tight.

"Oh thank shuck." The blond sighed out, fairly certain he'd bust something in his leg.

"Is everything ok?!" Teresa called.

"Yeah, we got it. Don't worry Zart, you can get down now!" Newt called back, before turning to Chuck. "Thanks Chuckie." he smacked the boy on the shoulder. 

"You're welcome." he nodded, trying to hide the fact he wanted to grin from ear to ear. Newt smiled, knowing Chuck had finally realised he didn't need to be a martyr to help the team. He'd helped without having to risk his life, and he was proud of himself for it.

"Go on, get down that hole, I got you." Newt advised, the boy nodding and taking ahold of it. He took a deep breath and jumped down, whining about his hands all the way down. When there was the thump at the other end, Newt grabbed the rope, pulling to make sure it wouldn't untie again. He had the most dangerous job. Jumping with no one to grab the rope if it decided to give in.

He took a final glance around the 'paradise', before jumping down the chute. His hands and leg burned as he skidded down the rope, listening out for any signs that the rope was snapping. When he hit the roof of the box with a thud, Teresa's hands steadying him, he smiled sheepishly.

"Everyone ok?"

"Yeah." Alby nodded, motioning toward the opening in the top of the box. Teresa jumped down into it, steadying herself at the bottom before walking out of view. "Are you?"

"Yeah, just strained my leg is all. I'm fine." The blond advised him, jumping down the hole and landing expertly on one leg. He glanced around as Alby jumped down behind him, the two coming to the front of the crowd. 

In front of them, was a large room. In one corner, there was a corner sectioned off, labelled with 'Flat Trans.' In the middle of the room, there was a surgery table, machines towering over it with a large needle in one and a pair of scissors in the other. Lining the walls were boxes filled with supplies, more robots clearly used for transporting them into the box every time a new person was brought up. On the far side of the room there was a huge door, and the faint sweeping of wind came from outside it.

"Well, let's raid." Alby hummed nervously, earning another hand squeeze as the group began to move.


	15. Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi yes I almost just had a fuCKING HEART ATTACK CUZ I THOUGHT ID LOST CHAPTER NINE ONWARDS DONT DO THAT TO ME I DIDNT WANT TO HAVE A STROKE TODAY HOLY FUCK  
> Also low key listening to Careless whispers because I'm an intellectual thank you goodnight

the group stuffed as much as the could into the remaining space in their packs and bags, the occasional cheer or high-five denoting a good find. Newt was searching through drawers of medical supplies with Teresa, who was telling him what to pack and what could be left behind. Behind her were Jeff, Clint, and the two girls who had been med-jacks in Group B: Madeline and Matilda, and the older girl was showing the what did what, passing on her medical knowledge.

"What about this?" He handed her some Aspirin, not that he knew what that was. Teresa held it up for the five to see. 

"This is Aspirin, it's a painkiller. Works for fevers and inflammation too. This is good. We need this." she passed it to Madeline, who stuffed it into her bag. Newt cracked open another drawer, grabbing another pot and passing it to the girl. Teresa turned it over in her hands, furrowing her brow before raising it up.

"This is Prozac. It's mostly used as an anti-depressant or anxiety, but it can have some nasty side affects." She explained. Newt frowned, not looking up from where he was rummaging around.

"Do we keep it?" Clint asked.

"Sure, nothing wrong with having it on hand." The girl shrugged, passing it at him. Newt opened up a drawer, and his mouth almost dropped open.

"Holy.." he murmured.

"Newt?" Teresa turned to him, light confusion on her brow. When the blond didn't reply, she became a little more concerned, turning fully toward him and shuffling toward the drawer that he was staring at.

Inside, was a zip-loc bag, sterile with nothing else touching it. Inside the bag, was a heavy, blood stained knife.

Newt's knife. 

"Oh.." The girl choked out in surprise. "N-Newt.." The blond hesitated, before putting his hand into the drawer. Teresa grabbed it, pulling it away slightly.

"Woah woah woah," The seconder finally glanced at her, tearing his gaze away from the weapon. "You're sure you want to do that? It might bring up some memories or something." She tried to reason. The blond looked at he fondly, grateful for the concern.

"Teresa, it's just a knife."

"But..but its.." She trailed off.

"I know what it is." he said calmly. "I get that for some people it might hold some sentimental value or something, but not for me. It doesn't matter to me, and at the end of the day, I need a knife. I mean, I can't fault it, it did do it's job."

"Newt.." the girl sighed, clearly annoyed by the blonds inability to think of his feelings.

"Teresa, it's fine, honest." he tried to reassure her. The girl didn't seem convinced. "Look, how about this." he tried, "I'll keep it until I find another knife. Then I'll get rid of it." She thought it over for a moment, setting her jaw.

"Promise?"

"Promise." He nodded. With a final sigh, she let go of his hand, and Newt went for the bag. Carefully, he unzipped it and stuck his hand in, taking ahold of the hilt that felt so familiar in his warm palm, pulling it out.

Inspecting the blade, he found that it would probably need to be sharpened, and the blood would have to be taken care of, of course. He weighed it in his hand, turning it over in his palms. Humming in satisfaction, and jamming it in his belt, he went back to medicine finding, only this time Teresa watched him more intently.

-

"We ready?" The blond, once again, drew up to his friend, patting him on the small of the back to announce his presence.

"Should be. This place is pretty much stripped bare." Alby hummed, watching the last of the boxes become emptier. Newt made a noise of acknowledgement, hand coming to rest on the hilt of the knife in habit. The boy glanced at the knife, then at Newt.

"You found a knife?"

"I found _my_ knife." He corrected his friend.

"The same one that stabbed you?" Alby just raised his eyebrows like a disappointed parent would, but Newt waved him off.

"It's a temporary fix mate. Don't worry."

"It better be." Alby crossed his arms over his chest. Newt paused, glancing around the room. He was aware of the fact that as soon as they left that facility, he and Teresa would be leading the pack. It felt weird to him that most of these people, if not all bar three, had never been into the scorch. They'd known nothing but the Glade, and then the paradise. Oh what a shock to the system they would get.

Newt didn't particularly want to be back in the scorch. He'd hated it with every fibre of his being. The sand mounds put too much pressure on his leg, the sun always burnt the back of his neck, not to mention the various crank attacks and possible electrocution. But, he'd put up with it. Newt would cross the scorched wasteland for years if it meant he'd make it back to the rest of his family.

"You ready for the scorch?" He glanced at his friend, who grunted with a grimace. 

"Can't say I am." He admitted. "But I am looking forward to seeing the others again." Newt laughed lightly, smacking his back.

"That's the spirit."

-

Alby stood at the door, Newt and Teresa beside him, the rest of the group crowded around. 

"Everyone ready?" The leader called. They all chorused with conformations and nods, but as Newt looked around, he could see they _were not_ ready. Almost none of them had the back of their neck covered, only a few had enough layers on for the colder hours in the nights, and no one other than Teresa, Newt, Winston and Chuck (Newt and Teresa had become his temporary parents, making sure he was well prepared for the sun), had anything to cover their faces.

Exchanging a glance with the girl next to him, Newt could see she was thinking the same thing. Oh well. They'd figure it out. 

Alby tugged on the large handle at the door, the four that had them covering their nose and mouth with their scarves as the scorch wind tugged the door from Alby's hands, throwing it open as the dust and sand swept into the room. The group yelped in pain at the grains itching into their eyes, covering their faces with their arms or turning away completely. 

Newt nodded at Teresa, yelling over the howl of the wind as the others tried to sort themselves out.

"Alright, this looks like the tail end of a sand storm, so stick close, and keep up! It's about noon, so we'll try to get out of this wind before following the tracker!" He called. "Partner up, make sure you can see them at all times! Look after each other, and don't get lost!" Teresa nodded, waving to them to follow the two teenagers. "Come on move it!"

The group began the trudge against the wind, leaving the comfort and safety of the paradise behind them, pushing to get out of the wind and somewhere slightly calmer. The group struggled behind them, falling over themselves and coughing into the sand. Newt and Teresa fought back against the wave of sand in the air, hitting a particularly tough incline.

"Here!" Teresa called. The blond just nodded at her.

"Get them over it! I'll grab stragglers and do a headcount!" He yelled. The girl nodded, exchanging another bump of the fist, which had seemingly become their thing, as Newt rounded on the group.

"Follow Teresa!" He called, stepping to the side. The people at the front began the ascent upward, struggling in the sand. Newt squinted, counting as best he could. 

49\. 50. 51. 52. 53. Perfect.

Helping the stragglers up the incline, despite the burning in his leg, they skidded down the other side into a perfectly calm flat, the blond almost groaned. Of course, sand storms were horrible to be in, but flats meant sweltering hot, and possible lightning strikes.

But, at least now they could start on their way toward their family.

They were finally on their way home.


	16. Sixteen

Thomas pressed down on the pad of his thumb, frowning to himself as his hammock swayed with the tide. When he decided that his eyes weren't planning on getting any heavier, he swung his legs over the edge of the hammock and stood up, steadying himself at the twinge of his stitches. Glancing around on auto-pilot, he immediately caught that Brenda was missing from their make-shift bunk room. So, shrugging on the red jacket of Newt's, that he and Minho shared between them, he headed up toward the deck, hoping to find Brenda, but also praying that he didn't, due to his lack of preparation.

Grabbing the rail and hauling himself up into the cool night air, he took a deep breath, any sleep that had previously been lingering in the corner of his eyes disappearing as soon as the chill hit him. Pulling the jacket closer to himself, he crossed his arms underneath the fabric, shielding his hands from the night's sharp air. Wandering, he subconsciously searched for the girl he loved so dearly.

Toward the bow of the ship, he found her leaning over the railing of the ship, in nothing but a long-sleeve shirt.

"Are you cold?" He asked, the girl jerking when he startled her. She shot him a glower, before nodding slightly.

"I'm ok, I'll go in in a minute. I just needed to think." she hummed. Thomas wriggled out of the jacket, draping it over her shoulders. She whined in protest, still shooting her friend a grateful look as she pulled it closer around her.

"So, we should probably talk huh?" He sighed slightly, leaning against the railing with her.

"Yeah, probably." She agreed.

"Ok," He cleared his throat, "Bren', you know I'd never mean to hurt you. And I love you, I really do. But as," he paused, trying to find the words, "as more of a sister." The girl just watched him, face not giving away any emotion. "I didn't, I didn't mean to tell you I'd think about it. I don't know what I was thinking, and it was so wrong of me to lead you on like that. So, I know that I fucked up, and I don't expect you to be ok. So..if..if you could think about forgiving me, of course in time, I will be forever in your debt." he murmured. Brenda frowned slightly, glancing down at the ocean and then back at Thomas. There was a long pause, and there was nothing the brunette wanted more than for her to say something. _Anything_.

"That was fucked up dude." She eventually sighed out.

"I know." he mumbled, ashamed.

"But-but you don't hate me?" Thomas started in surprise, blinking.

"Hate you? What would I hate you for?" He asked.

"For liking you. I just thought you might call it childish or something." she shrugged meekly.

"No!" Thomas frowned. "Of course not Bren.' Everyone gets crushes, and it's never gonna ruin our friendship. I promise." he gently reached out an squeezed her hand. Brenda huffed and nodded after a while.

"But don't think I'm just gonna forgive you like _that,_ " she snapped her fingers. "I'm not one of those girls who practically fall at your feet back at the haven." She scoffed. 

"Well I would hope not." He laughed.

"So," She frowned slightly, "You still love Teresa?" She checked, glancing at him. He stopped, mouth open as he caught his tongue. Could he tell Brenda? He trusted her of course, with his life, but would it be weird to tell someone who had a crush on you who you had a crush on? Especially if said crush was dead. "Right." Brenda had seemingly taken his silence as conformation.

"No no," he tried quickly. "I don't love Teresa anymore." He managed to string together a sentence.

"Then," she nudged him playfully. "Anyone caught your eye?" She waggled her eyebrows at him, earning a smack to the shoulder.

"I suppose," he sighed. "But I realised a bit too late." he hummed.

"Why? Did they get a boyfriend?" She frowned, confused. Thomas almost laughed. If only it was that petty.

"Not really. They're dead." he scoffed sadly. "Kinda realised I had a thing for Newt, of all people, a couple days back." he hummed. Brenda set her jaw, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Hang on hang on," she put a hand out. "But like, back in the scorch, you guys were fucking so how come you didn't realise it then?" She asked, watching Thomas splutter.

"Wha-n-no! We weren't fucking, why does everyone think that!?"

"You guys weren't fucking!" Her eyes grew wide as her voice raised.

"No!"

"But you were constantly having sex with your eyes!" She tried exasperatedly.

"What are you on about?!" He tried. Brenda stopped short, opening and closing her mouth a few times.

"You had no idea?" She whispered out.

"Had no idea about what?" The brunette was beyond confused.

"Thomas, everyone was convinced you two were at least fucking. I mean, you looked at him like he was the damn sun, and I'm fairly certain he thought you were a God. You two were all over each other!"

"We were?!"

"Yes!" She began to cackle with laughter. "All this time, you had no idea?!" Her laughter was infectious, spreading to Thomas who began to laugh with confusion and disbelief. "Sweetie, I knew you were oblivious, but Newt looks at you like you're the only one in the room." The brunette's laugh died down shortly, and a soft frown came to rest on his brow.

"Really?" She nodded. "What was it like?" At the moment, Thomas didn't care how Brenda felt about him,or his crush on Newt. He just wanted to know about how Newt apparently looked at him. 

"It," She tried, "It was..It was like when he saw you, everything else just stopped around you. Like you were the first person he'd ever seen. It looked like he was staring at a beautiful painting, or the night sky. I mean, you remember how much he loved the stars?" He nodded. Newt had always had a thing about the twinkles in the sky, and how they got there. "He looks at you like he looks at the stars. Like you're the most gorgeous star he's ever seen. Sometimes, he goes into such a trance staring at you, I'm fairly certain he's gonna sway and fall over." Thomas bit his lip as his heart swelled, glancing up at the night sky and wondering if Newt was looking at the same stars.

-

Thomas swung the rifle back over his shoulder, watching as the boat came to a soft stop next to the deck, the abandoned Right Arm camp silent and still in the warmth.

"I still hate it." Harriet grumbled, sighing.

"Babe, you said you hate your thumb going off too." Sonya commented from behind them. Thomas smiled softly as Harriet pursed her lips in annoyance at the blond girl.

"One or the other unfortunately." Aris murmured to the two of them, earning a scoff from Sonya and a glower from Harriet. The plank got lowered and the group, one by one, piled off of the boat, coming to a stop at the base of the deck as Jorge and Frypan tied the boat securely to the slim rods of metal jutting from he planks of wood, that actually could do nothing if they were met with a storm. So they just prayed there wasn't a storm.

"Alright." Thomas hummed, sticking out his thumb and doing a three-sixty turn. When it skipped a beat, he pointed in the general direction, diagonally across the camp and over a large mound of sand. "This way."

"I still can't get over how dumb this is." Harriet continued to complain, earning a nudge.

"Harriet stop complning. Nothing we've ever done has been smart." Sonya rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but this is particularly dumb." The girl shot back. Thomas hummed. She really did have a point. But still, the blond brushed it off, drawing up next to leader. She leaned forward, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I think you're doing really good Thomas." She grinned slightly, and something started in Thomas. He'd seen that grin before. He knew he had.

"Thank you." he smiled, getting another shoulder squeeze before the girl let go and trotted off back to her best friends.

"Alright captain." Minho marched toward him, forcing Thomas to shake off the weird grin deja vu and focus back on the task at hand. "What's the plan?"

"That way." Thomas pointed back the way the beat had skipped. "We got all the supplies sorted?"

"Sure do." The asian nodded toward Jorge and Gally, who were handing out bags to everyone. "Everyones got water, food, blankets and some medicine as you requested good sir." He put on a stupid accent, and Thomas smacked him over the head with a scoff.

"Thank you peasant." He played along, earning a punch to the bicep. "Right, let's get going." He motioned toward the group to follow and keep up, turning on his heel with Minho beside him. The group tracked through the abandoned camp and over the mound, all listening to Aris and Sonya ordering Harriet to stop complaining about the sand in her shoes. After a while, when Minho had covered the back of his neck with Newt's jacket, which he'd draped over his shoulders, he asked,

"Thomas, what do you think we're gonna find?" The brunette thought for a moment, frowning.

"I don't know. I just hope it's something good." he scoffed slightly. 

"What are you hoping for?" The asian tried from a different angle. Thomas scoffed again, louder this time.

"Min', I'm hoping for all my friends to come back from the dead and just appear, but that's just not gonna happen is it?"

"No, no. It's not."


	17. Seventeen

Alby slumped down next to Teresa and Newt, with a exhausted sigh. The group had taken refuge in an alcove dug into the earth, covered fairly well with debris and a growing mound of sand. It had been a challenge finding a place to house fifty people; it had been a lot easier when it was just the few of them. Newt dumped the sand from his boot and started applying pressure to his foot and leg where it was begging for it the most. Teresa was shaking the grains from the clothing she could, glowering at it.

"They're not doin' too good." Alby murmured, picking the sand from his nails.

"Why? Is anyone hurt?" Newt asked concernedly.

"No, no. They're just struggling. We really weren't prepared." he ran a hand over his face, Teresa humming in agreement. "We've been walking for four days Newt." The leader turned to the seconder. "How do you know we're getting any closer?" Newt furrowed his brow when he heard something he never had in Alby's voice. Desperation.

Suddenly it hit him.

This was what it was like to be Thomas. To have people coming to you constantly with questions you didn't have the answers too, and having too find any words you could to try and comfort them. Doubting yourself constantly, looking after everyone constantly. How did he do it?

"Well all of our trackers are saying the same thing," he chose his words carefully. "And it's impossible that we're getting further away if we're following a tracker, so we must be getting closer." At that point, Newt was trying to convince himself more than Alby.

"It'll be a few more days." Teresa tried. "We'll find them. They're coming to us, we're going to them, so theres no way we'll miss each other." She tried to be logical. Newt nodded at Alby, who was frowning.

"Maybe you should tell the others that." He murmured. "They're staring to have doubts." he nodded to behind him where most of the others had settled down for the cold night.

"What are they saying?" Chuck asked, coming up behind Alby and sitting himself next to Teresa. The leader sighed, itching his chin as he thought. For the most part, people had stopped treating Chuck as the baby of the group, even though he was, the boy had grown up and matured, sometimes still amazing Newt with his level of intelligence and thinking on his feet. He wasn't sheltered anymore, Newt and Alby both trusting him with information that originally only Keepers would have known about.

"They're saying Newt's leading us into nothing. That we were safer in the paradise. That they could die out here if we don't turn back now." Alby murmured. Newt sighed, biting down on his lip. He knew he couldn't please everyone, but the least they could do is have a little faith that he wouldn't get them all killed.

"That's not fair." Teresa sighed. "Newt's trying his best."

"My best isn't good enough." The blond shrugged simply.

"Well, no one's dead or injured, we have enough supplies and we're on schedule, so I think your best is just fine." She countered. He just hummed in acknowledgment, staring straight ahead in thought. Chuck huffed, frowning slightly. Then he stood up, found a block of debris to stand atop of jutting out of the wall, and clapped his hands together. The three went wide eyed, hissing at him to shut up, that people were sleeping.

"Everyone listen up!" The younger boy ignored them and kept clapping. "Get them up! Wake up everyone!" He ordered. Grumpily and groggily, those still awake shook their friends awake, and slowly the camp arose to all watch Chuck, stony faced and not impressed.

Newt frowned. What in gods name was he doing?

"So," Chuck started. "I've heard that some of you have started to doubt our leadership, and are considering turning back," that sparked off murmurs through the crowd, which Chuck silenced with his claps. "So, I think you should be reminded of a few things." he cleared his throat, Newt and Teresa exchanging a look.

'WCKD chose us for a reason. Because we are the strongest. The best of the best." nods came back, people clearly uncertain of where this was going, 'And they enslaved us!" The boy said wildly, "They took everything from us! Our families," A few shouts of agreements, "Our freedom! Our safety!" A few more, "Our childhood!" He called. "But that was a grave mistake," his voice dropped low, but everyone was so silent and enthralled that it didn't matter. "Because we made it ourselves. We broke free! We broke out to find safety and we made our own family!" A few cheers went up. "We proved that WCKD could not break us. We proved that WCKD created their own worst enemy!" Several cheers and calls of agreement came back, Newt and Teresa joining in to hype him up. He grinned at them, before continuing. Where in the hell was this kid getting this from? Had he prepared this?

"But we didn't break free, and we didn't get our safety. They broke up our family!" Shouts echoed back. "WCKD are gone, and yet they still have so much power over us, keeping us cooped up like cattle!" People began to cheer and clap more and more in agreement. "And we can't have that, because we are the strong ones, and we are WCKD's own worst enemy!" Now almost everyone was cheering at the boy. "You go back there, you let them win!" he called. "So what are we gonna prove?!"

"That we're their worst enemy!" 

"And how are we gonna do it?!"

"By not going back!"

"And getting our family back!" Chuck finished. The group cheered and yelled, clapping loudly and shouting words of approval. The boy finished with a cheer and stepped off of the pedestal. Newt watched him make his way back to them with an open mouth, words escaping him. he thought Teresa summed up his feelings pretty well.

"What the _fuck_ Chuck?"

"I think they named the wrong one after Winston Churchill." Newt whispered.

-

Newt paced back and forth across the entrance of the alcove, pulling his jacket close to him and scratching at his collarbone. It had become habit to fiddle with his letter when he was stressed or when he was thinking, but he didn't have it anymore, and so had resorted to scratching at where it used to reside.

Chuck's speech had gotten the morale back up, he couldn't complain about that. Everyone had been filled with a new determination, and he knew the next day they'd all march along without complaint, crossing the desert in a wild goose chase.

 _That_ was what was bothering the blond. Other than the occasional blip in the pulse of their thumbs whenever they turned a certain reaction, they had _nothing_ to go off of. No indication of the specific direction, how close they were and how much further they had to go.

He couldn't sit by and be so unsure, not when he was leading so many people. He was getting restless anyway, and couldn't sleep. Part of him was telling the other not to go out alone, that it was Thomas level stupidity, but he promised himself he wouldn't go far and was sure he could take care of himself. So, he secured his knife in his belt, stabbed a torch in next to it, along with a hand gun in his back pocket, before going over the mound keeping the wind off of them, and glancing around.

Sand. As far as they eye could see. To his left, almost on the horizon as small dots were the mountains they'd lost Minho in. Which meant that the second Right Arm camp should have been in the general direction they were going in. But he didn't recognise anything. No distinct abandoned buildings, no familiar rock formations.

They were utterly and completely lost.

Newt began to wander forward, crossing sand bank over sand bank in a desperate attempt to pin point their location. But as his search got less and less promising, the blond choked out a soft sob. He let the tears fall, knowing it wasn't smart. He couldn't be emotional, that meant he was vulnerable and unprepared. And if a crank popped out of nowhere, he might get bitten.

He was fairly certain he couldn't get the flare again, but if he was bitten badly enough, he could die of blood loss out, alone in the scorch with no one knowing where he-

Newt ducked down as a shot flew over his head. That was a person. There was someone out. But how? Who? Had someone else from camp gone for a wander?

"Get up and drop your weapons." The voice ordered. Newt inwardly groaned. He'd really gotten himself into some shit this time.

Still, he got up from where he was crouched, taking his hand gun and knife, dropping them into the space between him and the figure. The bright light of the moon set behind the person covered their identity, not that the figure had even spared him a glance as he put his hands up. The man, he was assuming by the build, was more concerned with the weapons. Still pointing the small pistol at the blond, he grabbed the hand gun and inspected it, pocketing it and kneeling back down to grab the knife. Then he paused, hand jerking back.

"Where did you get this knife?" Newt frowned. What kind of a question was that? He'd found it at an old WCKD out-post, but why did that matter? Maybe this guy was infected. Best to stay on their good side.

"Look, I don't want any trouble." he tried carefully.

Then the man's head shot up.


	18. Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The back street boys and ulan are getting me through this chapter whoops procrastination ;)

Thomas sighed, running the flat of his dagger along his jacket, wiping off the blood of cranks from the last day. Four days. They'd found nothing apart from trouble. The brunette was starting to have problems believing that he was leading them into anything at all, wether it was dangerous or not. Maybe they were just all going crazy, and the throbbing in their thumbs was nothing more than a figment of their imaginations.

Frypan smacked the small of his back lightly.

"Thomas, you're thinking too much. You need sleep." he advised. The leader hummed in acknowledgement, staring out into the night from the small dip in the sand that they'd found to camp in. The cook sighed. "Try to get at least an hour, yeah?" he tried to compromise.

"Sure, I can do an hour." Thomas nodded.

"Can I convince you to get any more?" He went out on a whim, immediately being shut down.

"Nope."

"Nah didn't think so." the boy squeezed his shoulder, before shuffling around behind him, finally lying down, backpack becoming a pillow. "Don't be up too late if you can." he advised before rolling over. Thomas hummed in acknowledgment again, still staring into the night.

He counted the seconds. Then he counted the minutes.

27\. 28. 29. 30. Glancing around, he watched the shapes of his friends breathing steadily, slowly he rose to his feet. Grabbing a pistol and a torch, he crammed them into his belt and set off into the sand.

He didn't know where he was going, or why he was going, but he felt the itch to walk. He had to find anything. _Something._ Any sign that they weren't just tracking nothing. He couldn't risk the supplies and the safety of his friends on a mission that had nothing at the end of it. He could not let that happen.

Not when he'd noticed the others begin to struggle. Harriet had become too tired for whining two days ago, Sonya and Aris were practically tugging each other up mounds. Frypan and Gally had been exchanging packs when the straps wore deep red marks into their shoulder blades. Jorge and Brenda, the two who had spent most time in the scorch, had both started to take a little longer in their steps. Minho was still pushing with Thomas, trying to keep his hopes up and the desperation from his eyes. And Thomas had started to notice the dark bags beneath his e-

Thomas loaded and shot at the stumbling figure coming toward him. The man, or boy, it was hard to tell with how quickly they moved, shot down fast enough to avoid the shot. Ok. Not a crank. Too fast of reflexes. But maybe they had supplies, or weapons. Eliminate the threat. Thomas knew how to do that. Disarm first. Questions later.

"Get up and drop your weapons." He ordered. The boy let out a huff, still, he straightened and slowly dropped a knife and a hand-gun on the ground in front of him. Thomas barely spared him a glance, the night had covered him fairly well anyway, as he crouched down, gun still trained on the boy.

He inspected the hand-gun. Good condition, seemed to work fairly well. He decided to keep it for safe keeping as he pocketed it and went to inspect the-

knife..

No.

No that wasn't possible. 

It couldn't be.

He had to know. He had to.

"Where did you get this knife?" He asked harshly, staring at it like it was something disgusting. Well, it was. That knife had killed his best friend. It had killed someone he loved, and he hated it with every fibre of his being.

"Look, I don't want any trouble." The boy murmured. 

No.

No no no no no no no.

He couldn't be hearing that voice. That voice was gone. It had died almost a month ago. 

Everything was telling him to leave. To go before this dream got to him and everything caught up to him, but Thomas still saw himself raise his head.

"No." Was all he could whisper. 

Newt was staring down at him, wide eyed and mouth open. And he was alive. Skin clear, healthy and warm. Hair slightly longer, almost reaching his ears. No dilated pupils, no dark liquid pouring from his mouth. No knife stuck in-between his lungs. 

This was wrong.

This wasn't real.

It could be.

"Holy shit." Newt whispered.

No.

"No. No this-no." Thomas backed up quickly. "This- this is a dream. You-re not," he muttered, head beginning to spin. "Newt's dead." he told himself. Somewhere, he was aware that the throbbing in his thumb had come to a stop, but he wasn't really concerned with that when his legs felt like they were going to give way because his dead best friend was standing in front of him.

"Tommy." The blond tried. Oh _god_. He'd missed that. That sounded so perfect.

All he wanted was for it to be real. He just wanted this to be true, he wanted to be awake.

"Tommy, you are awake." The blond stepped forward.

"No.." he whispered. The blond took a step forward, taking a hold of his hand. Thomas' breath caught in his throat when he felt Newt's warm, soft skin meet his.

"You're not dreaming." The seconder assured him, eye contact almost unbearable. he was staring into the eyes of a dead man. He had to be.

"H-how?" He croaked out. "How do I know this isn't a trick?" He tried to think logically. This had to be a trick from WCKD. It had to be. "Tell me something only Newt would know."

"You have a scar on your left shoulder from where I stabbed you with that knife." He told him immediately. Thomas began to break. This wasn't possible. But what else could it be?

"Please tell me you're real." Thomas let out a broken whisper, shoulders slumping. Newt squeezed his hand, eyes glistening.

"I'm real. I'm not dead Tommy, I'm right here, and I need you to believe me. Please Tommy, please." he begged quietly.

Thomas broke. 

He tugged the blond close to him, wrapping his arms around the thinner boy as tightly as he could. Newt choked out a sob and returned it, almost rib-crushingly tight as Thomas' knees gave way, sending them both crashing to the ground. The brunette let out a whimper, pressing his head close to Newt's chest as the blond wrapped his arms around the boys shoulders, cries wracking his body.

Thomas found a heartbeat, and burst into tears. The two boys sobbed and sobbed, clutching onto each other as if they would never see each other again. The brunette drew back, scanning over Newt's face again. Healthy, well, with tear tracks running down it and slightly blotchy, but healthy, and grinning.

"I-I missed you." he choked out.

"I know." Newt whispered. "I missed you too." It was Thomas' turn to tug the blond to his chest, burying his face into the blond hair as his cries became silent.

What was happening? How had this happened? How was Newt here? 

Thomas didn't care. He didn't care that they were out in the open. He didn't care about cranks. He didn't care about the others. He cared about Newt.

"How-How are you here?" he whispered, wiping some of his tears away.

"Bloody hell, you have a lot to catch up on." Newt laughed slightly.

Thomas had never heard a better sound.


	19. Nineteen

"Would you hurry up?!" Thomas tugged the blond behind him by the hand, both laughing as they stumbled in the sand, sliding down sand banks and skidding on the movement.

"Would you slow down?!" Newt shot back, gripping to the brunettes hand tightly, almost falling over again. "I'm practically an old man now." he scoffed as Thomas slowed slightly for him.

"What are you on about?" The leader laughed slightly, leading the blond along. Thomas had started holding his hand as soon as Newt told him that the others were alive. They were on their way back to Thomas' group, then collecting Newt's group, hopefully all before the sun rose. The brunette was obviously having a slight breakdown over the prospect of seeing Chuck and Teresa again, and so was trying to rush Newt. Of course the blond longed to see Minho and the others as well, but he couldn't physically keep up with Thomas.

"I've got heart problems don't you know," he explained lightly. "Must have hit something important." he laughed, a frown coming over Thomas' brow.

"Once we got more time alone, we need to have a bit of a chat about why you still have that knife." Newt laughed sheepishly. He was in trouble. Thomas still squeezed his hand, tugging at him slightly. "Come on, not far now." they slowed to almost a walk, letting Newt's breath catch up and leg stop aching.

"They're not gonna believe that I'm real." Newt huffed slightly. They didn't really have time for disbelief. They needed to regroup before sunrise, which gave them approximately an hour.

"No. They're not. But they're gonna have too." Thomas hummed. Newt nodded, sighing slightly. The brunette paused for a moment, glancing at the blond. "So, you saw, _everything_?"

"Most things. Saw you wake up. Saw you make a fool of yourself in front of Brenda. Then you had some kind of spiritual awakening, but before I found out what it was about I got pulled away. Next time I came in, you and Minho were talking about what to do about Brenda." He explained. Thomas' shoulders slumped, and Newt couldn't tell if he seemed disappointed or relived. "How are things with you and Bren' anyway? Did you end up saying yes?" He asked, glancing at his friend. Thomas chewed on his lip, meeting Newt's eye for a moment before glancing away.

"No, no. Brendas more of a sister to me." he murmured. Newt's hopes sparked up. Maybe that meant that Thomas still had feelings for Teresa! That would be nice, she'd be so happy!

"So, do you like Teresa still then?" He risked. Thomas watched Newt's hopeful face with his eyebrows furrowed, before shaking his head. Ah. That wasn't good. He didn't like either girl. How unlike Thomas.

"No, not anymore." he shrugged. Newt nodded, deciding not to press anymore. Thomas seemed slightly uncomfortable, and the blond wouldn't stand for that. "How is Teresa anyway? Does everyone hate her?" The brunette asked.

"Oh no, not at all." Newt assured him, Thomas sighing in relief. "No one held any grudges. I mean, I apparently have had a child with her." He scoffed. Thomas choked, looking bewildered and stopping dead in his tracks.

"You- You and Teresa? A child? But..but you-that would mean..in the scorch?" He practically squeaked. The blond almost choked on his own saliva, snorting in laughter.

"Not an actual child you shank! Did she look eight months pregnant when you saw her a month ago?!" He cackled, Thomas immediately relaxing and looking embarrassed. Newt clutched at his stomach, vaguely aware that Thomas was watching him laugh his head off as he tried to recollect himself. "God you're such a dork."

"Am not." The brunette gasped, offended.

"I meant Chuck you dink." he scoffed. "We've become, like, his parents." he explained, continuing his walking. "Besides, I would _never ever_ get with Teresa."

"Why not?" Thomas asked. "You're both smart, confident, beautiful, funny. I think you're a pretty good team." He shrugged lightly. Newt laughed lightly to himself, turning to his friend.

"Tommy, you know rulers?" He asked. The brunette frowned slightly, nodding all the same. "What lines do they draw?" He asked.

"Straight lines?" 

"Exactly. So take that ruler, throw it far, _far_ away, then draw around a circle. That's how gay I am." Well, that felt good to finally get off of his chest. He'd never been worried about telling Thomas, and wouldn't have wanted the first person he told to be anyone else.

The brunette looked taken aback for a moment, before nodding. "Oh. Cool. Cool." he nodded, swallowing. "I mean, if we're still going with this analogy," he waved vaguely, "I'd be like, if you drew around a semi-circle."

Well, he hadn't been expecting that. Thomas liked girls and boys. Huh. 

Maybe that meant t-

No. Don't think about stupid things like that. They were friends, and Thomas wanted to be friends. There was no point in hoping for something that couldn't come true.

"Nice." Newt nodded. Then they heard yelling, the two immediately throwing their hands to their belts.

"He's here!" A voice called, before a group of bodies came barreling toward them, weapons all drawn.

"Thomas where have you- who's that?" Brenda asked, lowering her gun slightly. 

"Guys, I know what it looks like, but I promise you that this is rea-"

"Newt?"

Minho. 

The asians gun slid from his fingers, falling to the ground as he took an involuntary step forward. The group stared at him in bewilderment and shock, all frozen and transfixed. Gally was not having it though.

"Who are you?" he demanded, forcing Newt's gaze away from his best friend to avoid getting a bullet in his head. Thomas, thankfully, stepped between the blond and his friend, holding both hands up in surrender.

"Gally, we can explain."

"Well, go on I'm listening." the boy said harshly. Newt opened his mouth, glancing at Thomas, who nodded.

"We- we all have flat trans in our thumbs. So, when we 'die', we get taken to a paradise. An enclosed area for all that died in the maze trials to live out their days. Like a waste ground." The group listened in silence. "We wired the flat trans in our thumbs to pick up on each other, so that you could come and find us. The others are like a mile back, we came to meet you half way." he explained. They all stared at him in bewilderment, some still seemingly not over the fact that he was standing and no ridden with disease.

"The others?" Gally whispered, eyes wide. "Who?" He demanded harshly. "Who's there?"

"A-all of them." The blond tried. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't slightly intimidated. "Uh- Alby..and, and uh, Teresa and Chuck. Ben and Jeff, and Clint, Zart." he listed off, before finding Aris' hopeful eyes in the circle surrounding Thomas and him. "Rachel." The boys eyes lit up, tears already threatening to glisten.

"Chuck?" He heard Gally whisper, but then he was being tackled. 

Having Minhos arms around him was still peculiar, as it didn't happen very often. But the blond squeezed his friend as Minho held him tightly, checking for a pulse and then glancing him over.

"Jesus." he let out a broken whisper. "Newt.." he tried.

"I know." The blond whispered. Minho just pulled him back into a fierce hug, which Newt was more than thrilled to return.

-

The next half an hour was spent hugging everyone as tightly as he could. He and Gally stood together for a long time, thousands of unspoken words hanging in the air between them. Newt wanted to apologise for leaving him alone, when he knew that he was one of the only people Gally had ever considered himself being close with, but in the end settled with a simple nod. The two had never been one for words.

He held Brenda close for what seemed like an age. She was shaking slightly, but then again, so was Newt so that didn't matter too much.

"Glad you made it." she grinned slightly.

Frypan and he had a short but fierce embrace, the two exchanging a smile and a squeeze of the shoulder. Once again, words weren't necessary. They both already knew how much each other cared for the other.

Jorge and he had a man hug, him murmuring something about it being good to see him 'hermano.'

Harriet and he exchanged a quick hold, and a polite smile. The two had never been that close, although Newt had always loved how good she was at complaining.

Aris and he hugged for a little longer, the two closer. 

"Good to have you back Newt." the boy looked older, as he grinned confidently at the blond, who happily returned it. Next was Sonya who swung next to him.

"Alright blondie?" She grinned happily. Newt scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Talk for yourself poshy." They pulled each other into a tight hug, Newt grinning back at her. The two had created a bond, that Newt had never really seen coming. One day they'd just hit it off, chatting and teasing each other for traits that they both had into the early hours of the morning. 

He blinked when Thomas smacked himself.

"Y'aright Tommy?" He frowned. The brunette turned to the two blonds, both wearing a singular eyebrow raise. Brenda, who was stood next to the leader, blinked.

"Woah. That is weird."

"What is?" Minho asked, coming to stand next to the two brunettes. "Ew."

"What?" Sonya frowned.

"I knew I'd seen that grin before." Thomas said. "Is there any chance you two are related? Blond, same accent, both making the exact same face right now, it's actually scary?" He listed off. The two blonds turned to each other, cracking into snorts.

"Nah." They said at the same time.

"I'm calling voodoo shit man." Brenda put her hands up. Gally stepped forward.

"Alright alright, 'nough chit chat. We have to get to the others in less than an hour. Newt, can you get us there?" He asked. The blond shrugged him off.

"Course. Follow me."


	20. Twenty

Thomas followed the blond across the mounds, who was surprisingly quiet. He had been expecting Newt to be shooting around chatting to everyone he could, all excitable like a puppy, as he often was. But he wasn't. He was silently leading the group, the others slightly behind the brunette, clearly all expecting him to talk to Newt, as if they all were too scared to do it themselves.

He rolled his eyes and turned around. The group were huddled together, waving him off and giving him thumbs up.

'Are you serious?!' He mouthed at them, glowering.

'Do it!" Minho mimed back.

'We weren't the ones fucking!' Brenda mouthed at him. Sonya nodded furiously. Thomas opened his mouth to say something, before deciding it wasn't worth it. He glared at his friends again and mimed throttling someone before straightening and clearing his throat. He turned on his heel and jogged slightly to catch up with his friend, the others still staring and listening behind them.

"Newt?" He asked softly. The blond glanced at him, smiling like he was in a daze. "You alright?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Just overwhelmed I suppose." he laughed lightly, apparently unaware of the others eavesdropping behind him. "I'd planned out what I was gonna say to all of you since day one in the paradise. But now I'm here, I have no idea what to say to you." he admitted with a scoff.

"Well, that's ok." he shrugged. "I'm sure we already know whatever you were gonna say." he shrugged. Newt shook his head slightly.

"Not everything."

"How do you know?" He frowned.

"Trust me Tommy, you don't know everything." he laughed slightly.

"Well, then take your time." he shrugged, slightly confused at what Newt needed to tell them. "There's no rush."

"No. No suppose not." he shrugged, glancing upward. Thomas followed his eyes, craning his neck at the twinkling lights above them. 

"You still like the stars then, huh?" he chuckled softly, pocketing his hands.

"There weren't any in the paradise." Newt frowned deeply. "I hated it." then he came to a stop, grabbing onto the brunettes hand to stop him. Thomas stopped at the motion, glancing at his friend. "Are there stars in the safe haven?" He asked. Thomas couldn't help but smile fondly at the fact that that was the boys biggest concern.

"Like you wouldn't believe." he told his friend, who was already hanging off of his every word. "You can see lots of clusters, and like, different colours."

"Different colours?" His eyes widened.

"Yeah, like in the middle of the clusters, theres a lighter blue and stuff."

"Really?!"

"Yeah." Thomas nodded, pulling onto the blond to start walking again. Newt seemed so amazed that he just began to follow aimlessly, not paying attention to where they were going or what was happening.

"Different colours." he whispered to himself. Thomas hated to pull the blond out of his adorable day dream, but he was the only one who knew where they were going. So he squeezed his hand.

"Newt, we can go see the different colours once we've collected the others." he offered. The seconder shook himself from his thoughts and nodded.

"Right, right." he glanced around. "Uh, this way." he pointed and began leading again, their hands slipping from each other. Thomas nodded.

They walked for maybe another half an hour, before Thomas heard a voice from over a mound that Newt had just crossed.

"Newt!" 

Teresa. He watched the girl grab the blond and pull him close.

"Don't do that! You scared the hell out of me!" She hissed, the soft flickering of the camps burning fire in an alcove about 100ft away.

"Sorry." Newt murmured sheepishly. Teresa squeezed her friend, before opening her eyes and yelping in surprise at the large group behind the blond. Her hand immediately went to her belt, before her eyes widened.

"Oh my god." she whispered.

"Thomas?" Thomas looked past Newt and Teresa to see Chuck, Zart, Alby, Rachel and Winston, all staring at him in shock.

"Chuck." The boy swallowed down a choke, as the boy practically tripped his way into Thomas' arms. "Chuck oh my god." he squeezed the slightly older, more mature looking boy tight. Their embrace set off a  chain reaction, the barrier between the two crowds lifting as they ran into each others arms. Rachel and Aris. Teresa and Brenda. Alby and Minho.

Chuck drew back, grinning from ear to ear. "Looking good."

"Not too bad yourself mate." he chuckled.

"Chuck.." There was a soft murmur behind Thomas, who rose to his feet to see Gally, looking hesitant and more than guilty. But, Chuck just cracked into a grin and pulled his old friend into a tight hug. The brunette bust into a grin before he was being tackled.

"Tom!" He gripped onto Teresa tightly, both laughing and holding each other close. "Oh thank god you're ok." She breathed a sigh of relief. Thomas held her close, breathing everything in slowly.

"Says you." he laughed, the girl squeezing him back tightly.

"I missed you so much." She smiled, taking his face between her palms. "You look great."

"Thank you." he smiled. "I missed you too. More than you would believe." She grinned slightly and then the girl let go slowly, before turning on her heel and jumping on Minho. 

Thomas found Alby next, who sent him a soft smile and another guy hug. 

"I gotta thank you Thomas." he murmured.

"What for?" He frowned slightly.

"Getting them out. Looking after them. Being such a good leader. I know it's hard, but you're good. Better than me. And a better man." he hummed.

"Alby, you're an amazing leader." he tried to protest.

"I didn't get them somewhere safe. And then I tried to pen them in like sheep. So listen, you need to carry on. If you want, you should lead us all. You're better. The best of the best." he nodded. Thomas furrowed his brow, before nodding.

"You'll give me some contribution?"

"Yeah. Course. If you want Greenie." The boy chuckled, smacking his arm lightly. Thomas rolled his eyes fondly, searching for Wisnton. "Oh and Thomas?" Alby caught his attention again, the boy raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah?"

"Look after Newt, yeah?"

"Huh?" he blinked, taken aback. The boy rolled his eyes at the lack of understanding.

"Look," he sighed, "I know you like him. And, although he'd never admit it, he likes you too. Back in the glade, we were together as you know," Thomas was vaguely aware of that, and he'd be lying if he said the thought of rekindling hadn't crossed his mind. "But I made bad decisions. Kept everyone trapped in the paradise to keep him safe. I know how to _look after_ glade Newt. _You_ know how to deal with _now_ Newt, who is a lot more rough round the edges. So, just, keep up with what you're doing. He's told me he needs someone to look after him, as everyone does, but I can't do that for him now. I dunno if he's realised it, but he's changed, and I haven't, and I knew as soon as we got you guys back, he'd drift away from me. So look after him. Please?" Thomas frowned. Alby never said please. He must be serious.

"Alby, you're not gonna drift. He loves y-"

" _Thomas_. Just please? Promise me?"

"Y-yeah. Sure thing." He nodded, glancing toward Newt. The blond was staring back at him, letting the world go on around him. He frowned. 

"The world moves on around him, but he doesn't move." Alby muttered. "Like he's stuck in one place. One mindset."

"Like a star."


	21. Twenty-one

The remainder of the night was spent with heartfelt reunions and catch up sessions. Thomas and Newt had decided not to plan their next move until the sun rose, so that they all had some time to catch up with the long night.

Despite Newt's exhaustion, due to his lack of sleep, he found a quiet corner with Minho, and the two stayed huddled together, watching the world around them.

"So, you saw everything?" His friend asked, glancing at him. Newt nodded.

"Unless we were doing something." The boy furrowed his brow for a moment, before a thought dawned and he tried to suppress a smile.

"Were you watching when we were at the pool that morning? We were talking about you?" He cracked into a small grin.

"You mean was I there when Thomas owned your ass in a dunk competition? Yes." he scoffed, earning a shove.

"He did not!" His laughs dwindled, and he turned to the blond. "That must have gotten frustrating sometimes." he commented. Newt almost scoffed.

"You have no idea." he rubbed the back of his neck slightly. "It was especially annoying when someone blames themselves for your death." he shot the asian a look, making him laugh nervously.

"Everyone blames themselves for your death. I mean, I'm a runner, I should have been quicker." He waved his arms around slightly, but the seconder grabbed him by the hands and caught his eye before his friend spiralled.

"Min'. Theres no point blaming anyone. It happened, it's in the past, and no one can go back now and change anything about it." He said firmly. His friend sighed and just nodded slowly, before relaxing, enough that Newt let go of his hands and sat back.

"Does it hurt?" He asked.

"Does what hurt?"

"Dying." he clarified. Newt hummed.

"Not really. At least, it didn't for me." he shrugged. "I was more aware that there was a knife inside me than the fact that it was hurting, ya know? I didn't really care about it, I was just glad it was over. Glad I couldn't hurt Tommy any worse. I'd never be able to forgive myself if that happened." he sighed slightly. Minho hummed slightly, pausing for a while.

"Do you think she and Thomas are gonna get together?" Newt shrugged slightly.

"I know she'd like too, or at least, did. I can't talk on behalf of Tommy, you're the one who's been with him this whole time. You tell me, does he still love her?" He asked. Minho hummed, shaking his head.

"Nah."

"Then no, probably not." he shrugged. "Why?" Minho shifted slightly, sighing.

"I dunno." he admitted sheepishly. "I just, I guess I always had a soft spot for her." he murmured, voice lowering even more. "Not when she betrayed us of course, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't understand why she did what she did." he earned a soft hum of agreement.

"So, you like her?" Newt tried to clarify. Jesus, this was getting more complicated by the second.

"I don't know. I need to spend a little more time with her to know I think." he hummed.

"Well, that can be arranged." The boy smirked softly, earning another hard shove.

"Newt no!"

"You can't stop love!" He snorted.

"I will hurt you."

"Will not."

"Will too!"

-

The huge group of now over 60 trudged through the desolate wasteland, re-tracing Thomas' groups footprints. The mood had shot up overnight, everyone chatting and the occasional burst of laughter.

Newt was running the flat of his knife over his shirt, trying to scrub off some of his rusted blood from the blade. Thomas slowly slightly to join the blond, frowning at him.

"Where did you find that?" He asked.

"In a drawer, underneath the paradise." he answered.

"But why do you have it?" the brunette tried.

"I needed a knife." he shrugged. "And it did whats it designed to do." he shrugged, deciding that that was good enough and jamming it back into a belt loop. Thomas huffed slightly, frowning.

"Don't say that."

"Why not?" The blond asked.

"Because," he shrugged, waving his arms around as though he was looking for answers. "Because I missed you." he shrugged helplessly. Newt smiled slightly, squeezing the boys forearm.

"I know, And I missed you too." he repeated. Thomas smiled at the ground, coming to a stop. Newt managed to tear his gaze away from his friend, glancing up. They'd come to what looked like a tunnel, or the remains of one. He frowned, and raised an eyebrow in Thomas' direction, remembering how well the last tunnel adventure had gone.

"I know what you're thinking." he offered. "But we came through here, and we were fine. We all had torches, only had to deal with a few cranks. I know for a fact that the other end isn't blocked, and it only takes about an hour on foot." Thomas tired to reason with the seconder. Newt had seemed to begin too flit between two people. When he'd stopped following Alby around he had no idea, but then again, he didn't know why Alby wasn't there, leading with Thomas himself.

"Tommy, most of them have never even seen a crank." he kept his voice low. That seemed to throw a spanner in the works, Thomas seemingly forgetting that they were carrying around a group of sheltered, unprepared _children._ The brunette crossed his arms over his chest, tapping his fingers on his bicep. After a while, he hummed.

"Ok, we get those who haven't in the middle. Make a ring around them. Like protection." he shrugged, raising his eyebrows for approval. Newt raised his hands in the air.

"Sounds good to me. You're the boss." Thomas scoffed.

"I'd like to think that, but everyone knows you're really the one running this shit."

"How so?" The blond asked, hands on his hips.

"Well, you're the only one who scares me enough to keep my ass in line." The brunette shrugged back, Newt throwing him an over exaggerated gasp back his way.

-

The group moved tightly through the darkness, conversations now vanished, replaced with an uneasy tension and a slight fear. Still, the hour passed with nothing but two cranks popping out of no where, which were taken care of quickly.

They got to the end of the tunnel on time. Newt took a step to the side to do a headcount, Thomas following him to double check, and waving off to Minho to lead the group through the gap. 

58\. 59. 60. 6-

An inhumane scream echoed off of the tunnel walls, before Alby was being thrown against the wall of the opening by a burly crank. It was huge, and muscular, screaming and crazed. The group froze. Everything froze.

Newt had always wondered if he'd be able to kill a crank after everything. One of his biggest worries was that if the time came, when the time came, he'd freeze up, and someone would get hurt. Or worse.

But in the moment, he found he was the only one moving. He'd grabbed his knife and jumped toward the huge monster in an instant, watching as it swung back to take  huge bite from Alby's neck.

He'd never make it.

He just prayed his aim was good enough. 

Twisting the knife into a javelin like throw, he turned his body on an axis, aiming with his left arm and launching the dagger into the air. It crossed the space in two seconds flat, burying itself into the cranks neck. It spluttered up blood, sinking to the floor as Alby watched on in horror. The boy managed to tear his gaze away from his attacker, at the blond who made his way quickly over, tugging out the blade from the corpse and doing a once over.

"Alright?" He asked, taking a hold of his friends bicep. The leader could do nothing but nod dumbly, mouth slightly agape. The group was staring at him, most of the group over the threshold of the cave, light pouring down on them. Thomas came to stand next to the blond, hand finding the small of his back.

Suddenly there was a huge splitting noise, vaguely like the doors of the maze, just before they were about to close. 

"Shit." He heard Thomas whisper. Leadership instinct kicked into the two of them, and they shoved the three stragglers and Alby into the light as the rock began to fall. Then Newt was being tugged away from the group, pulled to the ground as cascades of debris began to block the light from view. Newt squeezed his eyes shut at the dust and deafening noise, burying his head into Thomas' chest, as a hand and a head over his own covered him from the onslaught of rock. 

They couldn't hear the shouts of their friends until the rock settled. Newt opened his eyes, pulling his head upward and coughing.

"You alright?" He asked the brunette, who nodded with a splutter.

"You?"

"Yeah, fine." he straightened up, taking a look at the blockade of rock barring their entrance.

"You guys ok?!" They heard Teresa from the other side.

"We're fine! You?!" Thomas coughed back, dusting himself off.

"We're ok! Do we try to get through?!" She asked. Thomas hummed for a moment, glancing at Newt, who shook his head in the darkness.

"No! Find shelter and wait for us! We'll go round!" He called.

"That possible?!" Minho chimed in.

"Should be! Give us, like, a day! If we're not there by sunset tomorrow, leave without us!" The two both knew that wouldn't happen, but they coolant say they hadn't tried.

"A day! Promise?!" Teresa put on her warning tone.

"We promise Teresa!" Newt called.

"You don't keep that I'll skin you Newton!'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey ya'll, chapter will be up tomorrow morning GMT, cuz it's an important chapter, I'm tired, and I want to finish it when I'm awake so it's not actual garbage lmao. Thanks for our support <333


	22. Twenty-two

"That was pretty impressive back there." Thomas commented, surveying the area with his torch.

"What was?" Newt glanced at it, keeping close to his side.

"Throwing that knife. You're like, the only person I know that would think of something so smart so quickly." he scoffed slightly, keeping his voice low so as not to alert any cranks of their presence.

"It's kind of just common sense." The blond shrugged, earning a smack to the back.

"Don't be so modest." He laughed softly. Newt grumbled something back, slowing slightly as the entrance to the tunnel got a little closer. After about five minutes of the seconder slowly loosing pace, Thomas heard a soft murmur.

"Tommy, could you slow down a bit? I can't see, my torch is bust." he mumbled a little sheepishly, obviously not very comfortable with making a deal out of his limp. The brunette, however, took it as a perfect opportunity to stop for the blond, and then intertwine their fingers together.

"Here. Now you won't get lost." he tried to think of an actual reason to hold Newt's hand, who just nodded and smiled at him.

"No, guess not." His small chuckle almost came out as a giggle, making Thomas grin in the dark. "So," the blond frowned. "How long is it gonna take for us to get back round?" He asked. Thomas hummed in thought.

"Shouldn't be too long. We'll probably be able to get in a couple hours of sleep in." Newt's face lit up, almost enough to light the whole tunnel. "What's that smile for?" Thomas found himself smiling along with him.

"I haven't slept in like five days? Maybe six?" He frowned slightly, trying to remember. Thomas frowned at his friend in disappointment.

"Newt," he frowned. "Why not?"

"Being a leader is harder than you make it look." he murmured, scuffing his shoe slightly. The leader rolled his eyes fondly.

"Thanks mate." he scoffed. "But you know I don't make it look easy. I'm on the verge of a breakdown the whole time." 

"But you wouldn't know that." The blond shrugged. "You seem like the most confident person ever. That's why you're such a good leader. People feel like they have nothing to worry abbot because they think you have everything sorted. I was in charge of a group for less than four days and I was so ready to quit. How do you do it?" He murmured slightly, bumping shoulders with the brunette with every step.

"I had you." Thomas shrugged.

-

"Newt." He groaned, rubbing at his eyes with his palms from where he was lying on the ground of a small cave opening. The fire was dwindling, the brunette guessing it was early morning. "I told you to sleep." he sat up, coming to sit next to the silent blond at the lip of the cave. Thomas had been awoken by the uncomfortable ground and his racing thoughts, and was hoping a sleeping Newt could put his mind at ease to some degree, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"I couldn't." he mumbled.

"What ya doing?" He asked, following  the blonds eyes upward. Oh. The stars. Of course. "Ah."

"They're so pretty." The blond whispered, eyes never leaving the night sky. Thomas hummed, sparing the lights a glance before directing his attention back to the blond, dark irises twinkling with the sparks in the dark.

"You've told me that a lot." Thomas hummed, although he wasn't mad about it in the slightest. He could listen to the blond talk about nothing for ages. But specifically stars. The brunette loved how his eyes got all sparkly and his smile grow just that bit wider.

Newt hummed, pointing to a slightly brighter star.

"That's the North Star." He announced. Thomas pointed in the same direction. 

"So, that's north?" 

"Yeah." Newt nodded, happy that Thomas had decided to take part in his star talk.

"Are there other important stars?" He asked. The blonds eye lit up even more, if that was possible, and he nodded vigourously. He pointed to another one, leaning on his friend slightly.

"Thats Sirius." he explained. "But, from here it only looks like one star. But that's not true. It's actually two stars. Sirius A, and then a small one called Sirius B." he said softly. Thomas hummed.

"What's your favourite star?" He asked, resting an arm around his shoulders as Newt lay back on him, nearly on his lap. The boy hummed for a while, seemingly thinking over his options. Eventually, he pointed to one in the left of the sky.

"That's Venus. It's not technically a star, it's actually a planet. But I like it, because Venus was actually a Roman Goddess, the one of love. Because Venus is always so close, like love, how it's always around us, but only sometimes can you see it. And then when you do see it, it's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, and you don't want to look at any of the other stars." he murmured softly. Thomas watched his lips as he talked, nodding slightly to what he was saying.

"Well," he murmured, shifting slightly to look at Newt, who raised his eyebrows half-heartedly in slight confusion. "I have a favourite star too." he murmured. Newt cracked into a huge grin, eyes widening.

"Which one?" He asked, geeking out slightly over the lights in the sky. Thomas smiled softly at his enthusiasm, before glancing at their hands, centimetres away from each other.

"You." he shrugged. Newt's eyes widened in confusion and he frowned slightly, not really understanding what his friend meant. Then he scoffed slightly.

"I'm not a star. I'm a person." he giggled quietly. Thomas smiled fondly, nodding.

"Yeah you are. Well, you're pretty like one. And you bring enough light to be one. You could light up a whole room if you were excited enough." Newt's laughs had stopped, and he was watching Thomas with a slight frown on his brow and confusion on his lips.

So Thomas decided to get rid of the confusion and replace it with his own lips.

Newt squeaked, and jerked backward slightly in surprise, but the brunette wasn't giving in. He knew Newt liked him back, there was too many pointers that said so. Minho, Brenda, Alby, the hand holding. It had to mean something. Didn't it?

Yes. Yes it did.

As Thomas found out after Newt swung his arms around Thomas' neck and moved his lips against the brunettes. Thomas' heart fluttered against his chest.

This didn't feel like Brenda. Brenda had felt empty, and his head had been swimming with alcohol and thoughts of trying to get back to his friends. Trying to get back to Newt.

This didn't feel like Teresa. Teresa had felt fearful, and all he could feel was the throbbing in his side, and the throbbing in his heart at the recent loss of Newt. Why it did always lead back to Newt?

The blond ran his fingers through the brunettes hair, sighing contently against his friends lips, as Thomas' hands left his hips and went flat against the floor jerkily. 

"Shit!" He snorted, Newt cackling out a laugh as he fell onto his back, pulling the leader with him. Thomas almost fell on top of him as his arms bent, only making the boy laughing more.

"What was that for?" Newt asked though his laughs. Thomas chuckled at the seconder, who'd made no move to get up from the floor.

"Maybe I just wanted too." he shrugged. "Needed you to know how much I actually like my favourite star, you see." he shrugged. Newt rolled his eyes fondly, arms leaving his neck and spreading out on the ground.

"That what you and Alby were talking about the other day?" He raised his eyebrows as he absentmindedly ran his fingers through Thomas' hair, who was still hovering above him, pursing his lips slightly.

"We were talking about you." he admitted, sitting up and pulling the blond up with him. 

"Could you elaborate?" He asked.

"Not unless you give me something in return." The brunette shrugged slightly. Newt huffed and nodded, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"We were talking about how you were together back in the Glade." Newt nodded, egging him on to continue. When Thomas didn't, he pouted and gave him another kiss, lingering slightly. "And he was talking about how I need to look after you, because now you're a lot more rough around the edges." he explained. Newt grumbled in frustration and leaned forward to give him another kiss. Thomas took the opportunity to pull him into his lap, which the blond weakly protested about.

'He said you never move. The world moves around you, but you never go anywhere." Newt frowned, kissing him again.

"What does that mean?" He asked, Thomas shifting and pulling him into a more comfortable position. 

"Just means I have to look after you." he shrugged.

"I'm the one looking after you all the time though." He protested.

"Well maybe we should look after each other then." Thomas shrugged, pecking the blond on the lips. "But now, you need sleep. You think you can manage a few hours?" 

"Are you gonna stay with me?" The seconder raised an eyebrow.

"Of course."

"I'm sure I could manage." he grinned.


	23. Twenty-three

Waking up in Thomas' arms is something Newt never thought would happen to him. Not that he was complaining, not in the slightest. 

When his eyes fluttered open to the tickling of the brunettes steady breath down his spine and the slight sweatiness of their intertwined limbs, Newt's cheeks reddened slightly, and he edged away from the leader. Slowly, he tried to untangle his legs and arms from Thomas' without waking him, but the brunette whined in his sleep and pulled the blond closer, grip becoming vice-tight around him. He wheezed slightly, now desperately tugging at the boys arms.

"Jesus christ Tommy how strong _are_ you?" He grin mumbled, trying his best to squirm out of the grip.

"Strong enough." The brunette murmured into the crook of the blonds neck, who froze.

"Have you been awake this whole time?"

"Maybe." The leader murmured sleepily, and although his face was buried into Newt's shoulder, he could practically hear his smug smirk.

"Why won't you let me go then?" He asked, trying to keep up the act of irritation.

"Cuz I want you to stay in my arms." The brunette raised his head, Newt rolling his eyes fondly and carding a hand through the dark head of hair, flattening it out a bit for him.

"But I'm sweaty and hungry." Newt grumbled back, protests and attempts to leave the tight embrace becoming weaker. "And we need to get going. The sun'll rise soon, and we have to be there by sunset. We've got a lot of ground to cover." 

"Oh fine." Thomas huffed out and let go of the blond, who stretched out with a slight yawn and a smile to the brunette. He leaned over the sparks of the dying fire, grabbing his bag and tugging it open.

"I have, crackers. Crackers, or, well would you look at that, crackers." he scoffed. Thomas sat up, shrugging off his jacket as he pretended to think. Newt took the silence as an opportunity to watch how well Thomas' shirt hugged his chest, making it fairly obvious how muscular he was.

"I'll have crackers please." The brunette scoffed, and Newt passed him a packet.

"Crackers and water for the gentleman." he handed him a flask as well, which the boy took a swig from before handing it back. Newt opened his own packet of crackers and began eating them, sighing slightly at the dry, bland mush in his mouth. "Please tell me you have real food in the safe haven." he grumbled.

"You ever had fish?" Thomas asked, the blond shaking his head. "Just wait. It's _incredible_. You're gonna love it." He grinned happily. The blond huffed slightly, getting fed up of crackers and stuffing the rest of the package back into his bag.

"I'm expecting great things from this haven."

"What are you gonna do when you get there first?" He asked. The blond hummed, putting his head on his knees.

"Sleep. For like, a week. And then eat, and eat, and eat." he grinned to himself, stomach already growling at the prospect.

"I mean, you deserve it. You really haven't had a break have you?" Newt shrugged, shaking his head.

"Guess not. I'm ok though. Holding up just fine." he sent the boy his best reassuring smile.

"Apart from all your tension." The brunette finished his crackers, taking another swing of water. 

"Tension? I'm not tense, am I?" Newt frowned slightly, watching the leader, who shrugged and gestured vaguely in Newt's direction.

"Your shoulders are always tense. And you never slack your jaw." he explained.

"Oh." Newt frowned. "Is it really bad?"

"Well no, I wouldn't say really bad. You could do with some muscle slack here and there though." The brunette shrugged, scuffing sand over the dwindling embers of the fire.

"How?" Newt cocked his head to the side slight, confused as to where he was going. And then realisation dawned on him. He choked slightly.

"Tommy, no." he laughed, watching Thomas scoff slightly, clearly finding it entertaining over how amused Newt was. 

"Why not?" he mused. "You too good for me?" Newt almost choked again.

"Of course not! Trust me, I'd love too. In fact, it's definitely up near the top of my to-do list, but if you've forgotten, we have a deadline." he chuckled slightly. Well, it was more of a giggle, but Newt would never admit it. 

It was a chuckle god dammit.

"But we both know they won't leave without us." The brunette shrugged.

"But we can't keep them waiting like that. That's not fair." the blond crossed his arms over his chest. He knew if he had been anyone else, they would have already given up. Arguing with Thomas was like arguing with a brick wall. But Newt had a way with Thomas, he had too if he wanted to be considered his seconder.

"Well, they could do with the extra rest." The brunette shot back immediately, as if he'd planned come-backs for every argument Newt threw his way.

"Teresa said she'd skin me if we were late." Newt threw back.

"She'd understand." Thomas waved him off, only earning a raise of an eyebrow.

"You think she'd understand that we kept her and the others waiting for god knows how long because we decided to have a quick fuck in the desert?" The blond deadpanned.

"Course'." 

"They'll get worried. They'll come looking, and then we might all get lost." He desperately tried to come up with a point that Thomas didn't have a comeback too. But he was failing miserably.

"Then we'll just have to make it quick." The brunette shrugged. Newt opened his mouth to protest, but was quickly cut off by the leaders lips on his. He rolled his eyes fondly, before wrapping his arms around the brunettes neck.

"If they ask, I'm throwing you under the bus." he murmured into the brunettes mouth.

-

"They're here!" Chuck called, pointing to the two, skidding and sliding down a dune toward the group. Teresa looked angry, Newt gulped. He skidded to a stop, in front of his friend, who crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows expectantly. Thomas and Newt exchanged a glance, before the blond stuck an accusing finger at the brunette.

"It was his fault."

"I was being helpful!" Thomas protested. Minho sauntered up next to Teresa, glancing between the two of them.

"Jeez, I can practically see the sexual tension. It's a wonder you two didn't fuck." he mumbled, pocketing his hands. When the two accused exchanged a glance again, Minho's mouth dropped open again. "You guys _did_ fuck!"

"Minho not in front of the child!" Gally playfully scolded him, covering Chuck's ears, whereas Brenda punched the air.

"Yes! Cough up Fry, you owe me your tin of mints!" She practically squealed, the cook glaring at the two boys before grumbling something unintelligible, trudging off to get his lost mints. Teresa was staring at the two dumbfounded.

"Newt, you like Tom?!" Her eyes widened. "Why didn't you tell me, you're supposed to be my gay best friend! We could have chatted about how hot he is!" 

"Slipped my mind I guessed." Newt rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, Thomas scoffing next to him. 

"I told you!" He heard Sonya point at Aris. "Being blond makes you more attractive!" Newt scoffed, pocketing his hands.

"Wouldn't be so sure Son', you're one ugly shank." 

"Oh shut up, we have, like, the same face." she waved him off.

"Because you're related!" Thomas protested. 

"We are not!" They both challenged back.


	24. Twenty-four

Newt shrugged off his jacket, before laying it down on the sand, on the outskirts of the group, and sitting down on it.

"So, you _did_ like Thomas?" Alby turned to him, the blond shuffling up next to him slightly.

"I didn't know when you asked me." he shrugged. Then he paused, reaching out and placing his hand on Alby's knee. "It doesn't bother you, does it?" Alby quickly waved him off, placing his larger palm over Newt's.

"No, no, of course not."

"Are you sure?" He asked concernedly. Alone in the desert, he and Thomas had never stopped to think about the consequences that their newfound relationship might have had. Not much had changed, they weren't acting any different, apart from the breath catching in Newt's throat whenever the new, unfamiliar touch came to find him. But, he hadn't really thought that it might affect Alby, and Teresa and Brenda.

He felt a pang of guilt shoot threw him. Sure, Thomas had said he didn't love Teresa or Brenda, but the blond couldn't help but feel like he'd taken something from them, as though he had disrupted their happiness. And the guilt he felt over Alby was almost indescribable. Part of him wanted to still love Alby really badly, he just wanted to make his friend happy, but he knew he couldn't force something that wasn't there.

"Newt, I just want you to be happy, you must know that." The leader smiled warmly at the blond, who only sighed.

"I just feel bad." he admitted. "I want you to be happy too."

"I am happy." Alby insisted. Newt shuffled to face his friend, warmth on his back from the fire and atmosphere behind him.

"You told me when we were together, that you were happiest when we were together. That if anything ever happened to me, or to us, that you'd never feel whole again." he recounted. The boy sighed slightly at the memory, sitting up slightly to appear more serious and attentive.

"Newt, we were young. We had no idea what we were doing, or how love worked. It was wrong of me to say something like that, because I would never want to guilt trip you. And yeah, maybe there's a part of me that wishes you still loved me, but I could never ask that of you, because that would be unfair. You moved on, I can't wait around expecting you to just come running back into my arms as soon as you find out I'm alive again." He explained, hand never leaving his friends.

"So, you really don't mind?"

"I really don't mind. I love you, and want whats best for you. I've never seen someone make you smile like Thomas does. And I prided myself on being the only person who could make you smile back in the glade." he chuckled lightly at the thought.

"You were." Newt nudged him slightly. "You made me really happy. You were the best boyfriend I could have asked for." he smiled softly. "Tommy might have replaced you as leader, but he's gonna have to work really hard if he wants to take you over on the scale." he laughed softly, Alby chuckling and nodding.

"Good that." The two remained silent after that, watching life bustle around them. Silence had never been awkward with the two of them, they used to lie in silence for hours, listening to each others heartbeats in contented silence.

"Newt?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you gonna be with Thomas tonight?" He asked. Newt frowned in confusion, before shrugging.

"Maybe. I'm not sure. Why?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you'd stay a while. Just for old times sake." The leader shrugged again, itching at his neck nervously. Newt grinned fondly.

"Course." He smiled. Alby nodded, a tiny smile on his lips. He lay back against the ground, the blond lying back against him and curling up tightly. Alby shifted closer, and after a few minutes, they mangled to shuffle into a comfortable enough position, falling into a light sleep.

-

When Newt awoke, he surpassed a groan, sitting up, careful not to wake his friend. Standing with some effort, and rubbing the top of his spine to try and get the crick out of his neck, he played stepping stones over his sleeping friends, making his way to the lip of the alcove they were staying in.

"Jesus." he grumbled, drawing up next to Thomas, who glanced at him.

"Y'alright?"

"Got a better night sleep with you then Alby." he groaned slightly, rotating his neck in a fruitless attempt to click something. Thomas just scoffed slightly, putting a hand to the nape of the blond neck.

"Cold!" He hissed, moving backward, but not making any attempt to bat the brunettes hand away. "What are you doing?"

"Trust Newtie, trust." The leader waved him off, finger tracing down the middle of his neck. Newt just scrunched up his nose in confusion, before Thomas dug his pointer finger into the muscle.

"Ow!" He bat Thomas' hand away that time, smacking him in the shoulder before his hand went to his neck, rubbing it better. "what was that for?" he grumbled.

"Well, does it still hurt?" Thomas challenged. Newt moved it around experimentally, before humming.

"No actually. Didn't realise you were a chiropractor."

"Duh. I'm your dream guy for a reason." he shrugged, Newt rolling his eyes and smacking him again.

"You are anything but my dream guy. You're just the best out of the options I had." he shrugged. Arms wrapped around his waist from behind, and the blond almost cricked his neck again whipping around.

"Rude. Could have gone for me Newtie boy." Newt rolled his eyes again and swatted Minho's arms away, who got a light punch from Thomas. The runner drew up next to Newt, pocketing his hands. "Whats the plan again? Just head to the boat?" He yawned slightly, clearly just waking.

"Pretty much." Thomas nodded. "Take a quick shortcut through a city, hopefully find some supplies." he shrugged. Newt nudged at his friend.

"Maybe it'll give you a few hours to chat to Teresa." he scoffed, earning a shove that sent him toppling into his boyfriend. "Oi!"

"Hang on, whats this about Teresa?" The brunette asked, catching the blond with ease, righting him and earning a grateful pat to the chest.

"Min' has a crush." The seconder grinned, much to the protests of his friend. 

"Minho! Why didn't you tell me!?" Thomas cracked into a grin, the asian groaning.

"Because it doesn't matter. She's all heart eyes for you anyway." He waved them off. Newt exchanged a glance with the leader, chewing on his lip.

"Don't worry mate, we'll set you up. Leave it to us." Newt grinned. Minho scoffed slightly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You two won't get anything done. You're too busy making love eyes at each other, or apparently fucking when you were supposed to be hiking." he said accusingly. Newt pointed at the boy behind him so fast he almost took the brunettes eye out.

"I told you, that was his fault!"

"You needed it." Thomas shrugged defensively. Minho arched an eyebrow at his friend, clearly enjoying the conversation now that it wasn't about him and Teresa.

"Didn't realise sex was something people _need_ Thomas."

"Newt gets stressed." He shrugged again. 

"Couldn't have like, given him a massage? Aromatherapy?" He asked. Newt watched the back and forth like a tennis match.

"Oh yeah, lovely scents in the scorch. Sweat, death and disease. I'm sure that candle would sell." Thomas shot back.

"Woah, Newt this a big moment. Thomas made his second joke _ever_ , you must be rubbing off on him." he scoffed.

"Well we do all know I'm a comedic genius." He shrugged back. Thomas scoffed.

"I think you'll find I'm shucking hilarious, and I'm the one rubbing off on him." He defended, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I can't listen to you talking about rubbing off on each other when you were fucking yesterday." The asian scrunched up his nose. Newt rolled his eyes, smacking his shoulder.

"I'll rub off on you in a damn minute." Minho didn't even hesitate.

"Aw finally!" He grinned. "Sorry Tommy boy, looks like Minho's getting it tonight." Newt choked on his own tongue, the brunette just scoffing and punching his friend lightly.

"You wish."


	25. Twenty-five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just dropped my fRIGGIN LAPTOP ON MY FACE MY FUCKING NOSE HURTS WHY AM I A TWAT

Thomas shifted the rifle on his back, lost in his thoughts as the group trudged through the heat. They were taking a two day (they hoped) detour to a nearby city, to try and find supplies. Now that they had an extra fifty people to accommodate and feed, they'd need all the supplies they could find.

"Tom?" He stopped short, waiting for Teresa to catch up, smiling at her and continuing to walk with her at his side. The two hadn't had the chance to talk yet, and they were definitely in need of a chat.

"Y'alright?" He offered her another smile.

"Yeah, I am. Are you?"

"Course." she grinned at her feet. "I'm really happy to be back with you guys. I was starting to think we'd never find you."

"Why not?" He asked, glancing at her, when she shrugged.

"Just worried. I mean, don't get me wrong, if anyone could get get us back to you guys it would be Newt, it was just that we didn't have much to go off of." she admitted. "But at least we knew what we were looking for. I'm surprised the others didn't call you crazy." she scoffed.

"I think they were about too." He scoffed lightly. "Part of me was saying it had something to do with you, and I mean, of course I didn't think that was logical, but turns out my madness actually got us back to you." She nodded with a laugh.

"I really missed you." she dropped to a low tone, shrugging slightly at the ground. 

"I missed you too." Thomas didn't even hesitate. Why would he? It was the truth. He swallowed lightly. "You saw the whole Brenda thing didn't you?"

"I did." she nodded. 

"Teresa, you know I'm sorry that things didn't work out between us." he shrugged. Teresa waved him off.

"Oh don't be stupid Tom. No one was expecting you to be in love with a traitor." 

"But I was." he took her hand abruptly, suddenly desperate for her to understand. "I really did love you at a time. I don't want you to think that I was just saying all of it or whatever, because there was a time where I really was in love with you. Even after you betrayed us."

"Really?" She almost stopped walking, watching his eyes intently.

"Yes. I may not feel that way now, and I may not have when we kissed, but that doesn't mean that I never did, and it doesn't make the time that I did any less valid." he said firmly.

"Yeah." she nodded, furrowing her brow and squeezing his hand. "But Tom, I need you to know that even though I was a bit upset about the whole Brenda thing, I wasn't upset at you. I didn't, and still don't care who you're with, because all I want is for you to be happy. You know that right? That I just want what's best for you?"

"Of course I do." he squeezed her hand back. "And thank you for that. That's all I could ask for from my best friend." he smiled. She cracked a grin back, which eventually settled into a casual smirk.

"Although I can't say, after the whole, does he love Brenda? Does he love Teresa? scenario, you'd turn up and then fuck Newt of all people." she scoffed. Thomas snorted, shrugging with a slight flush to the face.

"Eheh. Whoops." 

"I thought I had you all worked out! I thought you had a type!" She laughed, Thomas scoffing slightly.

"Yeah but Newt's like, Newt, ya know?" The two glanced backward simultaneously, trying to spot the blond in the large crowd of people. They spotted him licking his pointer finger and then sticking it in Minho's ear. The runner jerked away, scrunching up his face in disgust and swinging at his friend, who ducked. When Minho hit Alby, Newt popped up with a cackle, the leader grabbing a handful of sand and preceding to stuff it down Minho's shirt over the begs for mercy and the blonds snorts.

"Uh huh." Teresa deadpanned, earning a smack and a laugh. "I mean, he was a total underdog. I don't know how many times he'd give me advice on you, and what to do when we met you again, and the whole time his plan was to snatch you from my grasp!" She laughed, Thomas scoffing.

"I really doubt that." He turned to glance back at his boyfriend, who was now watching Minho and Alby throw sand at each other with a small amused smile on his face. When he caught Thomas' eye, the blond waved, Thomas smiling fondly and waving back. Newt cocked his head slightly, a silent question of _what are you looking at?_  Thomas just pointed at him, Newt flipping him off, the blush still evident from so far away. "I don't think Newt has a bad bone in his body. I think he just wanted you to be happy."

"Yeah." Teresa glanced back at the blond, who then flipped them both off and ducked under the mass of people, escaping the attention. "How rude of him." the girl gasped over exaggeratedly. Thomas just scoffed, nudging her slightly.

-

Newt drew up to him about an hour later, when the group was on the outskirts of the abandoned city. 

"Am I interrupting?" He asked politely. Teresa shook him off.

"Course not." She grinned. Newt slipped in next to Thomas, who put a hand on the small of his back and kept it there, before Newt reached out and wrapped his hand around the brunettes.

"Oh cool." The blond smiled back at her, before turning to his boyfriend. "I just wanted to check you had a plan to keep this raid short and sweet? I think most people would rather not run into any cranks today." he shrugged. Thomas hummed slightly, glancing back at the mass of inexperience behind them.

"Well, let's split up. How many of us are there that know what we're dealing with?" He asked. 

"Twelve." Newt replied without hesitation.

"So we split up into six groups. Each group has two experienced people with them." he shrugged simply.

"Thats ten in a group. That's a tricky ratio Tom." Teresa frowned. "Two experienced to eight inexperienced?" 

"Well we go twelve groups you've got four inexperienced to one experienced." Newt countered. "And we all know we work better in teams."

"Thats true. We don't do lone wolf." Thomas hummed.

"Fair enough, fair enough. But not everyone has to go. You take two people from every group to stay here, scout for cranks. That way, you've got more of a plan of the city and know where to avoid, and then the ratio is only two experienced and six inexperienced." she suggested.

"That's pretty smart." Newt offered with a shrug.

"Yeah, it is. Alright, we'll do that then." Thomas hummed. "Right." he hummed, turning around to do a once over of who they had to pair. "Newt, you're with me." he said right off the bat. Newt hummed in acknowledgment, not trying to argue. Of course, he wouldn't, but if he wanted too, it wouldn't matter. Thomas had _a tone_ , that no one would dare argue with. So, if he said that Newt was with him in _that tone_ , then Newt was with him. 

'Let's get Jorge and Brenda together." he hummed. "Gally with Fry. Harriet and Son'. Aris and Winston."

"Aris and Winston?" Teresa frowned slightly at his choice.

"Worked pretty well back at the facility." Newt shrugged. 

"Right." Thomas nodded. "And," he hummed, "Teresa, you can go with Min'." he nodded. Teresa hummed and nodded.

"Alright." she smiled lightly. The brunette stuck his hand out at his hip, which was smacked by Newt behind Teresa's back.

"You never fail to impress me." Newt muttered softly.

"Hm?" Teresa turned, raising her eyebrows. Newt opened his mouth, lost for words for a moment.

"I said..." he swallowed. 

"You don't wanna know." Thomas stepped in, the blond shooting him a grateful look, that slowly morphed into _'what the fuck'_ as he realised what he'd said.

"Ew." Teresa groaned.


	26. Twenty-six

Newt watched as Thomas tugged himself into a doorway, that was almost completely horizontal. The small group that they had, were exploring a once tower block that was all at a forty-five degree angle, teetering on the edge of leaning against the deteriorating tower next to it. Thomas found his footing on the wall, offering the blond a hand up, which Newt gladly took. He was tugged up, steadied, and then left to do a quick scout for cranks as Thomas helped the others up.

Their group consisted of he, Thomas, Alby, Zart, and then two girls named Clara and Lucy that Newt had never met, along with two boys named Simon and Peter. Newt only vaguely remembered Peter, but Simon, _they'd met._

Not that Thomas had to know that.

"Anything Newt?" The brunette murmured across the room, the blond being careful to avoid stepping on any windows that had been covered by rubble. He shook his head, following the beam of his light.

"No. Nothing." he hummed, jumping up to reach the stairs. He grabbed a hold of the bar, swinging his legs up afterward and regaining his balance at the top.

"Y'alright Newt?" Alby asked.

"Yeah." he nodded. "Nothing on the stair case, come on." he stuck his hand back down the gap, Alby taking a hold of it. With the leaders grip on the bar and the seconder, he managed to pull himself up onto the staircase, leaving the blond to help everyone up the stairs, doing a search around for any danger. Besides, any cranks decided to attack them now, ether of them could be knocked off of their feet and fall to their death.

Newt tugged everyone else up, pressing down the groans that his leg egged him on to make. He tugged Simon up, who took a hold of his forearm when he got to the top.

"You ok?" He asked softly. The seconder blinked in confusion. He and Simon hadn't talked since the Glade, and the sudden interaction took him by surprise. So he just nodded, trying to keep the confusion off of his face.

"Are you?"

"Fine, thanks." he grinned, finally moving out of the way so that Newt could pull up his boyfriend. When Thomas swung up his legs, he frowned slightly to Newt.

"You two know each other?" He murmured lowly. Newt opened his mouth, before shrugging and laughing a little nervously. "Oh I see." The brunette nodded. Then he huffed, shooting a glare into Simon's back.

"Tommy, don't get like that, it was like, two nights. We were drunk both times." He scoffed slightly at the floor.

"Still, I'm sure no one would say anything if Simon had a little fall down the tower." The brunette shrugged, straightening. Newt scoffed, punching him lightly.

"You don't want to push Alby to his death."

"Yeah well Alby wasn't looking at your ass when you climbed up here." Thomas grumbled, sauntering off to have a look around the staircase. Newt opened his mouth, frowned, then shut it again, unsure of what to think.

"It's my ass." he mumbled defensively to himself, before shaking off the thought and going to help Alby with a door he was trying to get up. 

"You got it?" The blond shone his torch onto the door that had been badly compressed, jamming itself into the hinge. Alby huffed, shouldering at the metal. When the door budged, he did it again, Newt watching nervously at the door creating so much noise. But, when the leader managed to shove it open, and the door sprung open, Newt's eyes widened.

"Tommy?" He called, not taking his eyes away from the contents of the room. Thomas hummed out in acknowledgment, skidding down the slight incline and coming to stop in front of the door.

"Holy shit." he murmured. The whole room was tilted, the large window the furthest from them. On the dirty glass, there was cans of food, bottles of water, and what looked to be packets of dried food.

"How do we get down there?" Newt frowned. 

"I dunno, but we gotta." Alby murmured. Thomas didn't seem convinced.

"It might be too risky." he hummed in thought.

"Thomas, theres at least a months amount of supplies down there!" Alby retorted exasperatedly, clearly not liking being the one having to do what other people said.

"Yeah, and if you fell, you could be falling for a month." Thomas shot back, before turning to Newt. "Newt?" The blond chewed on the inside of his cheek, humming. 

"Well, I think if we can think of a smart way to get down there then we should go for it." he murmured. 

-

Half an hour later, Newt was precariously stood on the glass, crouching down slowly to pick something up and then throwing it upward to Alby. Behind him, on the window ledge, which Thomas had advised them was the only stable part of the entire 'floor', that Newt was standing on, was Simon, ready to catch him if there was the slightest sign of cracking. The brunette had reluctantly paired the two off together, when deciding that he was better watching for cracks or cranks. 

And so, the chain went, Newt threw up to Alby, who was balanced precariously on what was probably a pillar in the middle of an office. He then threw it up to Clara, who passed it to Lucy and Peter and Zart to pack into the bags, safe on the wall. Thomas was stood in the doorway, rubbing his hands together nervously and watching the glass intently.

Newt threw up another can to Alby, crouching down again slowly and evenly, and picking up a packet of god knows what. The whole group was in silence, listening for cracks or anything that sounded the least bit dangerous. The blond swallowed, chucking up the packet to his friend silently. 

Suddenly, there was the noise that none of them wanted to hear. The noise that had Newt's heart dropping to his stomach. He paused where he was, glancing down at the small spurt of cracks in the glass underneath his boot. The group seemed to stop breathing, the blond freezing.

"Newt. Don't move." Thomas murmured. Simon reached out for the blond, who glanced around. They still had so much to pack, and it was just a few small cracks. As long as he didn't move too much, they could probably get a bit more in. he crouched down again, much to everyones protests, and picked up another can.

"It's fine. I'm fine." he assured them, glancing up at Thomas, who was giving him a _'you're in big shit'_ look. He just shot him a smile and threw the can back up to Alby. The leader caught it, and so Newt crouched down again.

"Clara!" Alby yelped. The blond's head shot up as the can came hurtling back toward the glass.

"Oh shit." 

"Newt! Move!" The blond dove at Simon, who immediately pulled him close to his chest, fitting them both on the ledge with difficulty. Everyone was silent as the can hit the window, watching as it shot through the thin layer like a bullet. Newt teetered as the hole expanded, swallowing glass up into the void. Simon gripped onto him tightly, trying his best to keep them both from falling to their dooms. Once he had them both steadied, the room seemed to breath a sigh of relief, but a small one, because a big one would have blown Newt and Simon over and sent them toppling to death.

"Ok, one at a time, grab onto that bar." Thomas murmured, motioning toward a bar that was near the much sturdier pillar that Alby was resting on.

"You go first." The blond encouraged.

"No, you." Simon offered. 

"It-" There was a scuffling coming from the doorway, the blond snapping his neck upward to see Sonya hurtling down the stairs, followed by a scream. Shit.

The girl slipped onto her side, and began hurtling toward the hole as gravity pulled her toward ground.

Stupid Isaac Newton, with his damn gravity. Stupid Newt with his big heart and morals. 

"Sonya!" Alby called out as the girl slid by, desperately attempting to grab onto anything.

For fucks sake. This was dumb.

Newt watched as she hurtled toward the hole, yelping out for help. Newt watched her toe fall into the abyss, before he dove for it. He tackled Sonya right from the air, side tracking her downward motion and slamming them both into the next window. He shot up, looking over her.

"You alright?" He asked, completely unaware of the dumbstruck silence around them.

"Yeah." Sonya whispered, slightly confused as to what just happened. "Thanks blondie." he patted Newt's chest slightly, before something caught her attention behind him. "Newt move!" She shoved him off of her, sending the seconder rolling as a large crank almost landed right on top of where the two had been. The monster let out a scream, not faltering once, as it's eyes snapped to the boy.

"Oh for five shuck minutes." The blond mumbled, before the monster tackled him. The two sent rolling across the thin glass, with the large crank ending up on top. The boy began to struggle under it's grip, trying his best not to let it's mouth anywhere near him. Newt wasn't sure if he could get infected twice, and he _really_ didn't want to find out.

"Oh get off you big brute!" Sonya wrapped a piece of wire she'd seemingly found from no where around the creature's neck, tugging sharply. The monster let out a gurgle, still not ceasing with it's clawing at the older boy. "Thomas I lost my gun, so if you'd like to be useful, now would be a nice time to!"  She called up to the brunette.

"I can't get a clear shot!" He protested.

"You want Newt to get eaten?!" She tugged sharply at its throat, the monster only becoming more violent than before, scratching at the boy beneath it. "Then shoot!" She called.

"Oh for fucks sake." He heard the boy grumble, then the loading and cocking of a gun. The crank jarred, blood foaming at its mouth, before it fell back, the girl jumping out of the way before it landed on her.

"Thanks Tommy." he grumbled, rubbing at his throat. "Sonya, what are you doing here?" He frowned, helping the girl off of the thin layer of glass.

"I was distracting the crank, the others were in trouble, so I decided to get it to follow me." she shrugged.

"Yeah you two are related." Alby nodded.

"Harriet's gonna kill you." Newt scoffed slightly.

"I think you should be worrying about Thomas, he looks like he's gonna strangle you." The girl snorted. Newt glanced up at his boyfriend, who had his arms crossed over his chest and his eyebrows raised expectantly.

"Eheh."


	27. Twenty-seven

"Well, at least you got some supplies." Sonya murmured, hauling herself up the stairs, the group in tow. Thomas had decided it would be safer if they walked her back to her group; he didn't trust her not to get into any more trouble.

"Yeah, 'part from the fact half of it fell." Newt grumbled in front of him, following the blond up the incline.

"It's still shucking heavy." Zart grumbled from the back, one of the unfortunate ones who was given the supplies to haul around.

"Oh suck it up mate, you've carried me around before." Newt scoffed. 

"Well I didn't really have a choice." he groaned back.

"Do I want to know?" Thomas asked, frowning over his shoulder.

"Zart lost a bet that he couldn't swear for an entire day, and ended up having to do whatever Newt wanted for an entire day back in the Glade. So, Newt used him as a car." Simon explained.

"My leg hurt! And it was a good work out." the blond defended.

"Not really, you're not very heavy." Zart hummed.

"I beg to differ." Thomas scoffed.

"Mean!"

"I'm just saying, it took two of us to get you through that damn city." he shrugged. Thomas tread carefully, unsure of how Newt would take that comment. No one had dared talk about _that night_ since the two groups were reunited, and the leader was unsure as to wether it was a sore spot for Newt.

"Yeah, and then you did it all by yourself." The blond shrugged. No, clearly it wasn't. "Put those big muscles to good use." he teased.

"I dropped you." he shot back.

"We were all tired. And I wasn't exactly being helpful. I was a total dead weight." he shrugged, before laughing to himself. "Hahaha, dead." Thomas smacked him on the shoulder, shooting him a disapproving look when Newt turned to look at him. "What, am I not allowed to joke about my own death?"

"Well-"

"SONYA, YOU ASS." Thomas glanced over Newt's shoulder to see Harriet marching toward the group, a small crowd of awkward people huddled behind her.

"Oh," the girl laughed slightly. "Hey babe."

"Don't 'hey babe' me, you could have died!" She smacked her girlfriend on the shoulder disapprovingly, glowering at her.

"Yeah but I didn't." the girl shrugged meekly.

"Let me guess, you almost did and then someone had to come and save your ass?" She raised her eyebrows expectantly, shifting all her weight onto her hip and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Uh.."

"Sonya!" She groaned. "Don't you dare ever scare me like that again!" 

"I won't." the girl nodded. "Ever."

"Good." the girl shook off her anger and pulled the seconder into a tight embrace. Thomas furrowed his brow at the blond, and then glanced toward his boyfriend, who was looking over the scratches and scars he'd obtained from the crank. 

They were the same. Same accent, same appearance, same mannerisms. Why couldn't they see that? Or maybe they could and they were just messing with everyone. 

Newt sighed slightly, shaking the leader from his petty thoughts.

"Newt? Are you alright?" Simon asked softly, frowning. Thomas glanced at the boy, watching him. Simon had a sharp face, mousy hair that was slightly longer than Thomas'. Stubble tucked under his chin, and his eyes were blue and sharp enough to pierce into someones soul. Undeniably attractive. And undeniably self-aware.

Thomas had always thought that the most beautiful people had no idea how attractive they really were. Teresa didn't realise that her eyes looked like waves could swirl in them whenever she looked toward a light. Brenda didn't know that her soft smile was enough to lighten up an entire room and make Thomas' heart swell. Newt had no idea how kissable he looked when he was concentrating, brows furrowed, soft bottom lip bitten. 

Simon, Simon carried himself in a way Thomas didn't like. He was too high, as if he was looking down on everyone from his nose. No wonder Newt had to get drunk to hook up with him.

"Oh, I'm fine." He waved him off. Simon nodded, sauntering off. The brunette frowned, bringing his head close to the blonds and murmuring, 

"You alright?"

"Not really." he murmured. "Should be with a bit of anti-bac and bandages though."

"We'll get it sorted." The brunette placed a hasty kiss to the crown of the blond's head, earning a soft hum of approval. Thomas squeezed his hand, and made a beeline for Harriet.

"What you found?" He asked. She pursed her lips in thought.

"Couple cans, some honey, and a flare gun." she recounted, before saluting with a smirk. "Sir."

"Nice work Lieutenant." he shot back, earning a smack to the arm. "You still going down?" He checked.

"Sure are. Slowly but surely." she hummed.

"Good that. Don't worry if you don't make it all the way down to the first floor. If it gets dark, head to camp." he advised.

"Got it." she nodded.

"Good luck."

"You too." she nodded, "come on you lot." she waved off her group, side stepping past Thomas' group, and heading down the staircase they had previously come from. 

-

The group worked their way up the floors, slowly but surely heading to the roof of the slanted tower. They were on about the thirteenth floor of fifteen, when Thomas heard a cry from the next room. He dropped the bottle he was holding and skidded, only to be met with two cranks jumping at Simon. The boy was stood on what seemed to be a broken filing cabinet, just out of the reach of the monsters.

'Thomas, please, help!" he begged. The sudden noise alerted the two monsters of the brunettes presence, and they let out a scream before flinging their way towards him.

"For fucks sake Simon!" he groaned, before turning on his heel and fleeing the scene. The two once-people bound off of the walls behind him, groaning and tripping over their feet as they began to gain on him. The brunette reached the stairs and began to climb up them, skidding down them at times and then barreling up the crumbling steps. The petrified boy had clearly alerted the group, or at least Newt, because Thomas heard a: 'Simon you incompetent shank!" Before the sound of thundering steps up the stairs after the cranks.

Thomas burst out onto the slanted roof, immediately loosing his footing and beginning to slide down to the lip of the building, 45 degree angles sending the three bodies hurtling toward the edge. 

"Shit!" The brunette grabbed onto what seemed to be an ariel, catching his body weight as the cranks slid toward him, clawing and groaning. Thomas fumbled quickly, grabbing his radio.

"Rosie what I got?!" He called to the scouting team, who could very clearly see him from where they were perched along a sand dune. 

"You can let go, theres a ledge below the lip, as long as you catch it the others can haul you back up!" The girl from the other end of the line crackled. Thomas pocketed the radio; he'd thank her later, and watch the blond, the others in tow, burst out onto the roof, gripping to the banisters to stop themselves from sliding too.

"Tommy!" Newt's eyes widened as a huge crank barrelled it's way into Thomas, knocking his hand from the ariel, the wind from his stomach and sending all three to the edge. Thomas was shoved over the edge, immediately scrambling for the ledge he was promised. True to Rosie's word, Thomas' fingers hooked onto a lip of concrete, one of the cranks flying over his head and toppling to the floor, about two hundred feet below. The second crank scrambled, catching a hold of the brunettes calf and rearing back it's head to take a bite.

"Are you serious?!" Thomas grumbled, grabbing his pistol, and shooting at his leg blindly, managing to hit the crank. The monster let out another scream, before it's grasp slipped from the brunette's leg and it felt too. Before Thomas could call, he felt large hands on his forearm, dragging him back up to the roof. As soon as he was pulled up safely, he was smacked around the face.

"Ow!"

"Don't pull that kind of shit!" Newt glowered at him, before turning to Simon. "And you-"

"Guys." Teresa's crackled voice came from Thomas' radio. The brunette, still rubbing his cheek with a pout, picked up the walkie-talkie, pressing down on it.

"Yeah, whats up?" He asked, successfully managing to distract Newt from murdering Simon.

"Its-" the girl sounded out of breath, almost panicky. "It's Chuck." She got out.

Thomas and Newt were already barreling down the stairs.


	28. Twenty-eight

Thomas toppled down the stairs, Newt hot on his heels.

"Teresa where are you?!" He called into the radio.

"I-I don't know!" She sounded distressed on the other end of the line, "Christ, Minho put pressure on it!" She ordered. "Hey, Chuck, it's alright, deep breaths," she said firmly, before re-directing his attention. "We-we're in a tower, I don't know-know which one." she swallowed thickly. "Sonya, get me more bandages!" She ordered.

"Fuck." Thomas muttered, barreling down the last of the steps.

"Wait, Sonya," he heard Newt mutter behind him, "Teresa!" He called. "Is Harriet with you?!"

"Uh-yes, she is." she said quickly. "What does it matter?!"

"Get her to get to the roof! Tell her to use the damn flare gun!" Newt barked back. Thomas had always been envious of Newt's ability to think on his feet.

"Harriet, get to the roof! Use the flare!" Thomas heard Teresa shout. He swung his way through the angled door, landing in the sand, the blond jumping out behind him. Then came Alby and Zart, the others hot on their tails. The two leading scrambled up into the open, whipping around to try and spot the spark of light that would be coming from the top of one of the towers they were surrounded by.

"There!" Zart pointed to one of the nearest towers, which was still a way away, a large flare of red light coming from the top of it. Thomas took off running again, skidding slightly on the sand as he powered over it, the others following in tow quickly. The brunette hit the building, a larger tower that was surprisingly still vertical, and jumped into the doorway, Newt following him with urgency.

"Teresa, what floor?!" He called out into radio.

"Shuck, I don't know Tom!" She snapped with stress. "Try, like, ten!? Just keep running until you hear voices!" She tried. The brunette snapped the device back into his belt, grabbing a hold of the banister and taking two steps at a time. Surprisingly, Newt was still the one next to him, despite his leg and recent heart problems. Thomas had to remind himself, that he did used to be a runner.

About six floors up, when the two had began to falter, they heard the distinct shrill of Teresa's panicked voice. The leader burst into the room, the blond almost slamming into his back at the abruptness of the stop. 

Thomas' heart almost stopped.

Minho, Sonya, Harriet were stood, bolting around finding things for Teresa, who was crouched over Chuck's body, pressing down on the boys arm, who was groaning with pain. In the corner, was the lifeless form of a crank, still with a dagger pierced through it's skull.

"Chuck!" Thomas dove forward, skidding to the boy's side, Newt kneeling down next to him. Alby and Zart stood in the doorway, pale and frozen with shock. "What happened?" He whispered, watching as Teresa tried to stop the bleeding from the teens arm with what looked like her shirt.

Thomas knew the answer to that question. But he wished more than anything he'd read the situation wrong.

"He-he got bitten." She breathed. Newt visibly recoiled next to him, face contorting in what looked like a mixture of horror and empathy. Thomas felt the world spin, and he had to steady himself to stop the stars spotting his vision. 

"W-what do we do?" Newt whispered, rolling his sleeves up, ready to help.

"As soon as the bleeding stops, we have to move him back to camp." She murmured over the semi-conscious boy, still involuntarily moaning.

"How long has he been bleeding for?" The blond asked. Thomas' head swam, and part of him wondered how they could be so serious, and calm. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook himself from his thoughts. He'd be fine. They'd help.

"Ten minutes or so." She muttered.

"How long until it's serious?" Thomas asked.

"With this amount of bleeding, maybe another five minutes before it's serious." the girl explained. Minho crouched next to them, shirtless and hands almost as bloody as Teresa's. He'd managed to rip his shirt in two length wise, and was holding out the now long strip of fabric to the girl.

"Here." he offered.

"Oh Minho you're a life saver." she squeezed his hand as she took the shirt off of him, wrapping it around Chuck's upper arm and pulling tightly. "That'll hold, but we have to move quickly." she explained. 

"I got him." Thomas rolled his sleeves up, scooping the boy up with ease.

"You sure?" The scientist asked, standing and rubbing off her bloodied hands on her jeans.

"Yeah." he nodded. "Newt, tell the others to get back to the camp, _now._ The raid's been compromised." he explained, before sidestepping the dumbstruck leader of the Glade, who was watching Chuck's unconscious form with horror, and making his way steadily down the stairs.

"You got it." Newt murmured. The others followed suit, the seconder grabbing a hold of his own radio and relaying Thomas' message.

"What's happened hermano?" Came Jorge's voice from the other end.

"It's Chuck. He's been bitten." Newt said gravely, hearing Brenda curse from the other end. Thomas stepped back out into the sand, making sure his footing was sure and steady.

"Minho, you got any more of your shirt left?" He called from behind him.

"Shit, nah, I don't." The asian cursed. "What do you need?"

"Sand's gonna get in the bite." Thomas called back, watching the wind pick up and sending flurries of sand grains toward them. Alby immediately shook off his jacket and covered Chuck's arm with it, tucking it tightly around him. "Thanks mate." Thomas nodded.

-

The group made their way to the temporary camp, where everyone else was already waiting. Thomas frowned as people began to crowd around the boy, gasping and eyes widening.

"Give him some damn space you shanks!" Newt snapped, shooting down any questions by glaring daggers into them. Brenda jogged over to Thomas, taking him by the bicep to lead him through the crowd. 

"I got an alcove you can put him in, it's out of the way from the sand." she murmured into the boy's ear over the roar of questions and accusations. Thomas nodded, motioning to her to lead the way. She took a tighter grip on his arm and led him away, Minho, Alby, Newt and Teresa in tow. She skidded down into an alcove, covered by a large slab of rock. Gally, Frypan and Jorge were already down there.

"Here Thomas, pass him down." Gally held out his arms, concern lacing his eyes. Thomas gently passed him to the boy, as it was too risky to jump into the hole with the teen in his arms. Gally gently lay him down on the bed of jacket's they'd laid out, uncovering his arm as the others jumped in.

"Alright, Teresa what now?" Minho asked.

"I can stitch it up." she offered. "I've got the supplies for that." No one dared voice what they were really thinking. The blood wasn't the problem. The flare was the problem. Was Chuck immune? And if he wasn't, what did they do? Did they have the supplies to make the serum? 

Thomas blinked, realising that everyone was watching him for approval, other than Newt who was staring at Chuck with a sad frown on his face, rubbing at his arm.

Oh, uh, yeah." The brunette nodded, swallowing thickly. Then, he took Newt by the shoulder, catching his boyfriends attention, who frowned at him in a way that made Thomas think he knew something.

"But before, Teresa, Newt, I need a word." The brunette was shot a frown by Teresa, and so he tacked on, "It'll take tow minutes." he turned and left the alcove, the two in tow.

"Newt, what do you know?" He turned on his boyfriend with a murmur, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I spent almost every moment at that screen in the paradise. And it had information on everyone. Their name, where they were, wether they were immune or not. And-and Chuck, he's-he's not immune." he swallowed.

Thomas' world crashed down around him.


	29. Twenty-nine

"Ok, that's fine." Teresa shrugged. "We have the vial. You still have it don't you Tom?" She asked, trying to keep the urgency from her voice. The brunette opened his mouth and swallowed thickly, shaking his head.

"I-I left it on the boat so it didn't get damaged or broken. But the boat's still three days away." he muttered, head spinning.

"How long we got?" Newt furrowed his brow deeply, crossing his arms over his chest.

"With a bite, not long." The scientist whispered, pain lacing her eyes. "We can try, but he might be too past the gone to save." her voice cracked slightly. The blond just shook his head, not convinced.

"No. We can still fix this, we don't need the cure. We just need Tommy's blood. After all, Winston and I were both cured with your blood, we didn't even need to make the serum." he shrugged. Thomas glanced back at Teresa, who shook her head.

"Newt, you remember that shot they gave us all at the facility? That was all the chemicals needed for the start of the cure. Once Tom's blood got into your system, the substrates in it catalysed the enzymes from the chemicals and cured you guys." she explained. "Chuck never made it to that facility. He doesn't have the chemicals in him. Tom's blood will do nothing without making more serum." she murmured.

"But, at the bottom of the paradise, we picked up bottles of every chemical imaginable, there's got to be something we can use." Newt shot back. Thomas watched the debate like a tennis match, intelligence being fired back between the two.

"We have some, or at least some that can catalyse the reaction and heal him." She nodded. "But the whole thing's risky. It could do some serious harm to Tom, and might not do anything to help Chuck." she murmured.

"How quick can you get it done?" The leader frowned at the girl, who shook her head with an estimate.

"I don't know, a few hours if I'm given the space and silence to concentrate." she guessed.

"Then we go for it." Thomas shrugged. That was when Newt stuck an objectifying hand out.

"Hang on, hang on, how dangerous are we talking here?"

"Well, we're gonna be taking blood from a syringe that's already filled with chemicals that Tom has, or ones that he has similar too. I'll have to be really careful not to push the least amount into you, or, theres too many enzymes and not enough substrate.." she trailed off.

"An overdose." Newt murmured. Teresa shot him a knowing look, confirming his suspicions.

"If we're not careful enough you could die Tom." her tone was low with nerves.

"Do it. Get everything you need, get anyone you need to help you. Just work fast, and do your best." Thomas ordered, the girl giving him a nod and squeezing his forearm.

"You're a good man Thomas." she walked away. 

"Tommy.." Newt breathed out helplessly.

"Newt, I know you're going to tell me I'm stupid." He sighed slightly, tired and stressed. Newt seemed to be making disagreeing with his every decision a habit, and it wasn't a habit Thomas had the mind to deal with right now.

"That's not what I'm gonna say." he muttered.

"Then what?" The brunette glanced toward his boyfriends, who's eyes were warm with fear and sadness.

"This is really something you want to do?" The blond barely breathed. Newt knew he was walking on thin ice. Thomas almost choked at the question.

"What kind of a question is that? I'd do anything for Chuck." he crossed his arms defensively over his chest, whereas the seconder just glanced at the ground. 

"I know. I just, this is a lot to risk." he mumbled.

"So you're saying Chuck's not worth it?" Thomas accused, raising an eyebrow. Newt's head shot up, now cold with a  frown.

"What? No! Not at all." he shot back. "It's just, I don't want anything bad to happen." he shrugged slightly, glancing to the floor again.

"Something bad has already happened, Newt, and to Chuck, who is the least deserving person of it in the world." 

"I know that, but you don't deserve it eit-"

"He's a child Newt." he shot, thoroughly fed up of the blonds sudden habit of having too many opinions. Was he always that stubborn and pushy? "And to be honest Newt, I'm seriously not in the mood to hear to your long spiel of how you're only looking out for me, and care about me too much to let me do this, because I know that's where this is going." He took a step forward, and the blond took an involuntary step back, eyes widened with surprise at Thomas' sudden snap. "Cuz guess what Newt, in the real world, it's not all about team work and getting through things together as you always told me. Because people still die, and there is nothing you can do about it!" He'd attracted a few nosy onlookers from afar, but at that point the leader couldn't have any given less fucks. He grabbed the blond by the wrist, pulling him close enough to feel the blond's breath on his face, if he hadn't had been holding it as he winced away from his boyfriend. Thomas' voice dropped low enough to be a mutter. "Too many people have died on my watch Newt. And all because I didn't do enough. I will not let Chuck die from something, when we have the cure, _right here._ No one else is dying on my damn watch." He stepped past the stunned blond, marching off to clear his head. 

-

"How we looking?" He crouched next to Brenda and Frypan, who were guarding the outside of the alcove, trying to keep the area as quiet as possible for Teresa's meticulous work.

"We're looking ok." Fry nodded lowly. "Chucks' stable for the moment. Alby's in there with him. Teresa seems to be doing ok."

"By that he means we haven't heard her swear in a solid ten minutes." Brenda muttered, making the cook scoff in agreement. 

"Thomas, he's going to be alright though, isn't he?" Fry frowned slightly, worry lacing his tone.

"We have the cure Fry, and we have a syringe. It'll work. He'll be ok, right as rain in a few days, and then we'll be right back on track."

"Good that. Good." he nodded, Brenda shooting the two of them a smile.

"Don't hover Thomas, we'll come find you when she's ready." the girl shot him a knowing look, Thomas only smiling sheepishly and nodding.

"Thanks Bren'. You're a lifesaver." the girl just rolled her eyes and saluted, the leader straightening and turning on his heel. Heading out to the outskirts of the camp, where people dwindled, he frowned.

Where was Newt? Newt was almost always right next to him? He couldn't be mad at Thomas right? It wasn't like he'd said anything specific to hurt Newt, he was just stressed and took it out on the seconder. He'd understand, he was sure.

"Oi, Greenie!" Thomas turned on his heel, only to be met with Gally's fist. Thomas stumbled slightly, seeing stars as the sand shifted beneath his feet. Finding his footing, he blinked back the spots from his vision. Gally was seething.

"What the shuck was that for?!" He straightened slightly, the boy only squaring up again.

"What was that for?! _What was that for?!_ I'll show you what that was for you-"

"Gally!" The builder turned on his heel to see Newt glowering daggers into him, Minho's unwavering gaze set on Thomas only. "Step back." the blond said lowly. Gally immediately stepped backward. They may have been out of the maze, but no one dared go against Newt. Of course, most of the time, people listening to Thomas or Alby, but Newt was a whole different story.

The blond could click his fingers and have ten people following him around, doing his every bidding in a blink of an eye if he wanted too. Thomas and Alby may have looked physically intimidating and like they were built for leading, but everyone knew, if Newt turned on them, everyone turned on them.

And Newt knew. Oh, _he knew._

"Is someone gonna explain to me why he just punched me?" Thomas spat at his old rival. Minho shot him a glower, and the brunette almost keeled over, like he'd been physically wounded.

Minho was angry with him. His best friend was angry with him.

"Because you're a dick Thomas." Gally growled back, only causing the brunette to squeeze his fists up tighter. Newt shot Gally down with a stare, causing the keeper to shut his mouth. 

"Newt, an explanation from you would be appreciated?" Thomas grumbled, raising his eyebrows expectantly. The blond stared him down for a moment, before stepping closer and running his tongue over his teeth.

" _That,_ was because you hurt my feelings." he motioned toward Gally, before turning back to his boyfriend. "And this," he grabbed ahold of the brunettes hand, flattening out the palm and placing something in it, before closing Thomas' fingers around it. "Is for being selfish." he muttered, before side stepping the boy, Gally and Minho in tow, leaving the leader alone, stunned.

Thomas glanced down, opening up his fingers. Placed inside was a thin cord of vine twisted tightly to make the kind of thing he could wear around his neck. Dangling on the bottom, where the two ends of the cord met, was a small, wooden, carved star.

Thomas had fucked up.

He'd fucked up badly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the lack of chapter last night, went to a concert, but there will be one tonight! Love you all! <3


	30. Thirty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Once again, sorry for the delay, but I almost got crushed on a train at a concert and I escaped like a total badass, so I don't know if that makes up for it. Idk, anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for all your support as always! <333
> 
> Ps. They talk about needles and shit if that makes you uncomfortable, idk it's like one line.

Newt stood by the alcove, lips pushed into a thin line. Minho sighed next to him in disapproval at Gally.

"What?" The builder defended. "You can't tell me he didn't deserve it." Minho pursed his lips.

"No, he didn't. Yes, he's been a dick, and Newt's hurt, but he didn't need to be punched. He doesn't realise what he's done wrong, to be fair." The runner shrugged slightly. The blond listened to the two, gaze bolted forward.

"Well it's worse that he doesn't know what he's done wrong!" Gally tried, exasperated.

"No it's not. Mate, you're just pissed cuz someone upset Newt. Thomas technically didn't say anything to Newt to be mean, and we all know that he wasn't trying to be malicious."

"Then what's Newt mad about?" Gally frowned. Minho opened his mouth to reply, but the seconder had grown tired of the two speaking across him like he wasn't even there, so he turned to his friend with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I'm not mad. I'm upset." he frowned. "Because of the way he talked. He was acting like a huge dick, and I get it, he's stressed and tired, but we all are." he sighed, paused and set his jaw. "He was talking to me like I wouldn't do the exact same thing for Chuck if I could. He was talking to me like I couldn't possibly understand what he was going through, like he was the only one who had ever been through a time where they almost lost someone." he dropped his shoulders a little, "And I'm not gonna pretend that I don't know it's tough leading everyone, because it is, and he's under a lot of stress, but that doesn't give him a right to be so condescending and, actually, downright aggressive." he shrugged slightly. "I mean, he grabs me that tightly again I'll break his damn nose." he grumbled. Gally looked taken aback for a moment, before it shifted to contemplation, and then he huffed through his nostrils.

"I'm not gonna pretend I hate the guy, but I'd be lying if I knew what you saw in him to be honest Newt." The blond just hummed, turning back to staring straight ahead.

"And I'm not gonna pretend that I don't love him, but here we are." he heard Minho splutter beside him. Gally froze in his peripheral.

" _Love?_ Newt, that's a strong word." The asian put a hand out, as if trying to calm Newt down, who simply raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah? Does it being a strong word make it an untrue word?" He challenged. His best friend opened his mouth, words escaping him, so Gally picked up the boys point.

"No, but, ya know," he motioned with his hands. "We're young Newt. I'm sure we're too young to be in love and stuff." he tried.

"And you were too young to be getting speared in the chest mate, but here you are with one good lung." he patted the boy on the back, who just furrowed his brow and opened his his mouth again to counter the blond's point, before closing it again. That was when Teresa popped her head out of the alcove, tapping Minho on the ankle.

"Hey, Min'." the three turned around as the scientist refused to acknowledge anyone but Minho. "Can someone go get Tom? We're ready." she ducked her head back in, and the three exchanged a glance.

"I'll go." The blond huffed, and before the others could interject, walked in the direction that he'd last seen Thomas in.

Not that he'd been looking.

-

"Thomas." The brunette whipped around at the sound of the blonds voice, immediately opening his mouth to say something. In one hand, he was clutching the star necklace tightly. 

"Newt I-"

"Ah." The blond held up a finger, shutting his boyfriend up immediately. "We can talk about this after. I came to tell you Teresa's ready for you with Chuck." he pocketed his finger, motioning to Thomas that he was now allowed to speak.

"Oh." he nodded. "Right, ok." he nodded again. He stepped forward, gently taking Newt's hand. The blond glanced down at it, contemplating pulling his hand away, before deciding it wasn't worth the agro. "But we'll talk later, right?" He murmured softly. Newt softened slightly, nodding.

"Don't look so worried ya shank, I'm just mad at you, Im not going anywhere." he scoffed lightly at the ground. The brunette pocketed the necklace, now using his free fingers to coax the blonds chin up. 

"Good, because I wouldn't wanna die knowing you wanted to be away from me." he murmured. The blond frowned under his grip.

"Don't say things like that. You're not gonna die." he muttered. "And we both know I couldn't stay away from you if I tried." Thomas hummed a laugh. 

"Hey, don't look so worried gorgeous, I was only kidding, I'll be fine." Newt flushed at the pet name, as it had taken him by surprise. The blond had never really seen a point, after all, he called Thomas Tommy, and no one else called him that. In a way, he had already given the brunette a pet name before they started dating. Thomas called him nothing but Newt, and the seconder had just assumed it would always be that way.

"I know." he swallowed. "Just- you don't dare take any unnecessary risks in there, or I swear to christ I will roundhouse kick you in the head." 

"You're so romantic." 

"Shut up." The blond scoffed, grabbing the leader by the shirt and pressing their lips together. He sighed slightly against the brunette, relaxing in his arms despite himself and his lingering anger. Newt had planned on it being a short kiss, he didn't want to make Thomas think he'd forgiven him, but soon gave up on that plan when he ran his fingers into the brown hair and pressed himself closer.

Newt knew this was getting out of hand when Thomas grabbed ahold of his waist, pushing him flush against his chest. So, the blond groaned into his lips and shoved himself away from his boyfriend, panting slightly.

"I'm still angry." he clarified, pointing an accusing finger at the brunette, who nodded, not looking convinced.

-

Newt jumped into the alcove after Thomas, Alby and Jorge shooting them smiles before exchanging a glance with Minho and Gally, narrowing their eyebrows in suspicion. The blond waved them off, before turning his attention to Chuck.

He froze.

In the three hours that Chuck had gotten bitten in, there were already green veins spindling their way up his forearms, and the boy was sweating and groaning uncontrollably in his unconscious state. Newt's legs almost buckled at the sight. 

Newt had been in pain a lot since his first memory. In fact, one of his first memories _was_ being in pain when he'd jumped off of the wall. But he had never felt pain like the flare. He could practically feel the virus scraping through his veins, changing him. Making him see red, making him weak, making him throw up and shake with pain in the middle of the night on the edges of the camp, back when no one knew of his illness, making him sway slightly and cling onto something for a moment as he tried to recollect without anyone noticing.

And Chuck was so young.

"You alright mate?" A hand on his elbow grounded the blond, and he turned to see Minho, murmuring low in his ear with his eyebrows raised. "We get it if you can't be in here. Brenda's sittin' it out." he murmured. The blond quickly shook him off.

"No, no, I'm fine." he nodded, going to stand next to Gally, who squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. He watched Thomas shrug off his jacket, exposing his forearm. He and Teresa held their heads close together, the scientist murmuring instructions to him. The brunette nodded, holding out his arm. 

Teresa took a deep breath, taking a hold of the syringe and carefully lining it up with the vein. Collectively, the room held their breath as the girl pierced the skin and she pulled back, red liquid swirling up into the vial and mixing with the blue. When she pulled it from his skin, Newt's shoulders stopped fractionally, only just realising how anxious he was. 

The girl took ahold of Chuck's forearm, lining the mixture up with one of his only blue veins left and pushing it in. The younger boy stopped his groaning and stilled slightly, before relaxing, breath becoming steady and even.

The group collectively breathed a sigh of relief, Teresa glancing at Thomas who shot her a grin, then at Newt who was practically glowing with relief, then at Minho who ran over and hugged her tightly. The scientist laughed happily, hugging him back, squeezing. Newt laughed, before turning to Gally, who was watching Chuck.

"You ok mate?" He placed a tentative hand on his bicep. The boy hummed, turning back to the blond. 

"Yeah." he shrugged. "I'm just thinking," he sighed. "Does it hurt, dying?" He asked.

"Yeah." Newt asked truthfully. "It does."

"He's a strong kid." The boy murmured, glancing back to Chuck. The blond frowned, and took a hold of the builders cheek gently, as he had done so many times in the Glade, and directed his gaze back to the seconder.

"Hey, listen." he murmured lowly, placing a hand over Gally's. I know what you're doing, and you need to stop it. Chuck's death was not your fault, and even if it was, it wouldn't matter. Because at the end of the day, he's still here, and he's going to be ok."

"But he almost wasn't." The keeper shot back.

"Ah ah." Newt frowned. "No almosts. He _is_ ok, and he's _going to be_ ok. Trust me, if he can survive the flare, he can survive anything. Kid's gonna get to the safe haven, and he's gonna go far. Live out the rest of his childhood skimming stones and going exploring." he murmured. "And one day, he won't be able to remember the pain. All of his memories will be of the amazing life he had once he got to safety."

"Hm." the boy hummed. "You're right. Thank you."

"Come on," the boy retracted his hand from his cheek and patted his bicep. "He'll be awake in a minute. And he needs a friendly face to wake up too."


	31. Thirty-one

Thomas whipped around when he heard Chuk groan, eyes and grin widening. He, Teresa and Newt were at his side in an instance, the boy glancing at them, seemingly bewildered.

"Thomas- wha..whats going on?" he cracked out. "Am I- am I dying?" he asked, eyes widening.

"No Chuckie, you're alright. We cured you, you're gonna be just fine." the brunette reassured the young boy, squeezing his hand softly. 

"You- you cured me?" He whispered. The brunette shrugged.

"I gave my blood, Teresa's the one who really saved you." he motioned to the girl beside him. Chuck watched her for a moment, smiling weakly at them both.

"Th- thank you, both of you." he tried to squeeze Thomas' hand back, but he was too weak. A heart string tugged in the leaders chest as he looked down fondly at the young boy. "I didn't slow us down did I?"

"We'll be resting for a couple days, just to give you a chance to recoup, but we'll be heading for the boat right after that." the boy opened his mouth argue, but Thomas just raised his eyebrows, challenging him. The boy huffed and closed his mouth again.

"Get some rest Chuckie." Teresa smiled. "Take it easy, you'll be weak on your feet for a while." she advised.

"Ok." he grumbled, shooting the two brunettes another grateful smile before they stepped away, allowing the boy to the hands of Frypan and Jorge, who began to ask him what he needed and what they could do to help. Thomas made a beeline for the lip of the alcove, Newt beating him too it. He jumped up and swung his legs over, walking away. Gally followed, shooting the leader a suspicious glare. Minho came after, patting Thomas on the small of the back.

"Good goin' Tommy boy." he offered. "Nice work out there Teresa." he nodded toward the girl before jumping up and following Newt.

"Th- thank you." Teresa stuttered to no one. Thomas did a sharp 180, eyes widening at his friend.

"What was _that?_ "

"What was what?" She immediately flushed, stepping past him and jumping onto the lip. 

" _That._ You got all mumbly." he followed her. "Teresa, do you have a thing for Minho?!"

"Shut up!" She hissed, clamping a hand over his mouth.

"Mmhmmgdd!" She groaned at him, glancing at the floor.

"It's just a crush, nothing else. I'll get over it." she took her hand away to motion wildly.

"Why though? Why do you want to get over it?" He frowned. The girl rolled her eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Because he doesn't like me back you twit."

"But he-"

"Tom." she crossed her arms over her chest, raising her eyebrows. "Don't you have to worry about your own relationship?" 

"Oh god, what's he done now?" Brenda groaned, drawing up next to them.

"Newt's mad at Tom. He said something and now blondie's gathering an army against him." Teresa over dramatised it, and the leader spluttered.

"Oh for gods sake Thomas." the girl scoffed.

"That is not what happened! Besides, you're supposed to be on my side!" He frowned exasperatedly.

"Says who?" Brenda challenged.

"Says," he tried, "I dunno, you just are."

"Just because we both liked you doesn't mean we'll be on your side." The scientist laughing, her friend nodding.

"The least you could do is give me some help. He's really mad." the boy grumbled miserably. 

"Just be nice." Brenda shrugged. "Give him space, let him have his time. Don't push anything onto him."

"Yeah, he'll forgive you when _he_ decides too." Teresa nodded.

-

"Hey Newt?" He drew up beside the blond, who was sat on the outskirts of camp, tracing patterns into the sand with his finger. He hummed in acknowledgment, barely even sparing the boy a glance. "Can you please explain why you're so angry at me?"

"You don't know?"

"I know I was a dick, I don't really know why you're _this_ angry." He tread carefully. The blond sighed, turning to him.

"Because you're forgetful." he murmured lowly. "I know you were stressed about loosing Chuck, and you're tired, and you want to go home, but the way you talked to me wasn't ok, and I'm not just gonna let it slide like it was alright because it really wasn't."

"No, it wasn't." The brunette agreed.

"You just frustrate me, because I understand that you've lost Chuck once before. And I know that you'd do anything to protect him and keep him safe. I get that all you want to do is keep people you think you let down before safe. But you forgot, that you weren't the only one who lost someone else." he sighed, picking at his nails.

'I spent a month before I died, knowing my time was coming to an end. And I spent a month panicking over what to do. We've all been selfish before, I was selfish. I knew I needed to go, go far, far away before I hurt any of you. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't pull myself away knowing that I might never see Minho again, and that you'd have to live not knowing what happened to me. I couldn't leave you, even when I knew I should have. And I put you in danger." his voice wavered slightly, and Thomas was sure he saw the blond wipe something away from his eye.

'I spent an entire bloody month, knowing that I was dying, and that I was going to loose you. I didn't know why that hurt me so much, because when I jumped from the wall I wasn't thinking about that. Now, I realised it was because I loved you, but, all I knew was that I was going to loose you. And I couldn't hack that. Guess that's why I stayed. Point is, after spending a month knowing you're going to loose and possibly hurt someone you love, it's fucking hard. It really hurt."

'I knew that after I saw you again, I wouldn't ever be able to deal with the thought of leaving you again. After all of it, nearly killing you, I continue to be selfish." he laughed quietly to himself. "So then you decide to run right into danger, to save Chuck, and I know that there is nothing I can do to help, everything starts crushing, and I start panicking because I cannot loose you again. Then you get angry at me, and everything's so scary and confusing, can you blame me for being upset?" He asked.

"No, I can't." Thomas admitted. "I'm sorry Newt, I never meant to snap on you. I just didn't want to loose anyone else." he shrugged. "And you know if it was you I'd do the exact same thing."

"I know that. And I'd take several bullets for you in a heartbeat, doesn't change the fact you were a dick."

"No, it doesn't. You're right, I'm sorry." he murmured, tentatively reaching out and squeezing the blonds hand.

"It's alright, I just wanted you to understand where I stood on everything." he shrugged. 

"So we're alright?"

"Yes." He scoffed slightly. Thomas smiled, opening his arms. The blond rolled his eyes, shuffling up into his boyfriends side despite himself. Newt put his arms on Thomas' knee, head resting in between it and the brunettes shoulder.

"This is really beautiful Newt." he hummed, running the necklace over in his palm.

"Thank you, it's to replace this." The blond tugged the other necklace off from his throat, the brunette grabbing a hold of his hand.

"Woah, woah, what are you doing with that?"

"Getting rid of it." he shrugged. "You don't need it anymore." he frowned slightly.

"But I want it." Thomas countered.

"Why? It's sad." The seconder frowned, confused.

"Yeah, but it's yours." Thomas took the necklace back from it, placing it back around his neck. "You gave it to me, so I'm gonna keep it."

"But I'm not dead anymore." Newt laughed.

"Fine." Thomas huffed. "How bout this? You get rid of that damn knife, I'll get rid of the necklace." he offered.

"Fine." Newt murmured. They sat in silence for a moment, before Thomas put his head on top of Newt's, humming slightly.

"Newt?"

"Tommy?"

"Was it necessary to have Gally punch me?" He felt the blond scoff underneath him.

"That was all him." he put his hands up in surrender. "But someone had to make your perfect face, slightly not perfect." he shrugged. 

"So you think my face is perfect?"

"Not anymore."

"Rude!"


	32. Thirty-two

Newt hummed softly to himself, trailing towards the back of the group. He glanced up, shielding his eyes from the sun, smiling softly at Chuck, clinging onto Thomas' back as the boy trudged through the sand. He watched the group around him, laughing and chatting, and his heart warmed. They were all safe, they were all together. It was so close to being perfect, they were close enough to touch what they'd always dreamed of.

"Boo!" Sonya jumped onto his back, the blond choking in surprise, but grabbing ahold of her legs and jumping, getting a steady hold of her. "Aw, thought I could scare you." she pouted.

"Nothin' scares me." Newt scoffed. She wasn't making it that much harder to walk, she was fairly light, and Newt was never going to sit around saying that he wasn't strong enough. Leg strength? None. Arm strength? He was undefeated in arm wrestles, even against Alby and Thomas.

"Sure." the girl scoffed in her ear. He hummed, continuing to trudge. "Hey Newt?"

"Sonya."

"What do you think about this business of us being siblings?" She asked absentmindedly.

"Hm." he pursed his lips. "I dunno. We are very similar, and the only ones with the accent that we have." he shrugged. The girl nodded.

"That is true. We are similar."

"Do you remember anything about childhood? Like, at all?" He asked, watching his step as he made his way up an incline. 

"Vaguely, I'm not gonna lie. I do remember something, but I dont-"

"What is it?" He asked, heart beginning to thump slightly. "What do you remember?"

"Well," she frowned slightly at the urgency in the boys voice. "Snow. It's snow." The boy stopped dead in his tracks, putting the girl down and turning sharply on his heel to face her. "What? What is it?" She frowned, looking slightly nervous.

" _I_ remember snow."

"No you don't." She whispered, her face falling in shock.

'I do!" He nodded eagerly, taking her hands. "I remember seeing snow when I was younger, but not touching it. I don't think I was allowed to go outside, for some reason." Her eyes widened even more if that was possible, and she nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"You don't think we're actually-" Newt watched her trail off, locking eyes. He frowned slightly, like he was trying to work out a puzzle. She had huge, dark eyes, the colour of mahogany, or the forest at night, ones that he'd seen before. They were his eyes. Her own widened as she seemingly realised the same thing. "Holy shit." she whispered.

"You're my-" he choked on a wave of emotion he hadn't seen coming, and the girl stood, mouth open as if she was trying to think of something to say. 

"We have the same-" She tried, before wrapping her arms tightly around the boys middle. Newt hesitantly put his arms around her, squeezing tightly. She felt soft, warm, and slightly lean. She was a little shorter than him, and smelt strongly like a wood, such as mahogany and the smokiness of kindling being burned. They stayed there for a while, the seconders mind whirring. They were siblings. Maybe even twins. What was he supposed to do with that information?

"So, what do we do?" He asked softly.

"I- I don't know." she admitted, drawing back slightly. "I think- I don't know how close we were when we were younger, but, I'd like to try to know you better." she swallowed. "If that's ok, I- I'd really like to have a brother."

"That sounds bloody amazing." he grinned, wrapping her up in his arms tightly once again.

-

"So you have a sister now?" Minho's eyes widened as Newt nodded enthusiastically.

"That's amazing mate, I'm so happy for you." Alby grinned at him. 

"Thanks guys." he smiled at the ground. "I just, I don't really know what this means? Like, should I be spending more time with her? Am I supposed to be there when she needs someone to look after her?" He asked, swallowing tightly. Minho placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently.

"Baby steps mate, take it slow."

"Right, don't get ahead of yourself." Alby advised, "This is new for both of you, so you'll both need time to adjust, and that's ok." he offered. A small smile tugged at Newt's lips as he tried dos top himself from cracking into a huge smile.

"Yeah. Right, gotcha." he nodded, "I can do that." the three of them, who were rounding up the rear end of the fifth day, came to the outskirts of the abandoned tower they were staying in. Chuck had managed to walk on his own, he and Sonya had spent a lot of time together since their revelation the day prior, and Thomas was leading them onward, one day away from the boat. 

The three Gladers climbed the stairs, level after level, groups scattered and sharing food, until they came to the sixth floor, where their group was setting up camp. Newt made a beeline for Thomas, who was sat, trying to pry open Brenda's packet of old chips with his teeth. Finally he got them open and passed them back to the girl with a  triumphant grin on his face as the blond came to sit next to him.

"Thanks Thomas." The girl laughed at his antics, taking a stale chip and putting it in her mouth.

"Hi gorgeous." Thomas smiled at the blond, who blushed despite himself. Brenda's head popped back up and she blinked at Thomas in surprise, before grinning to herself behind her chips.

"Hey." Newt managed to squeak out. "How's your back?" He asked, gently running his fingers up Thomas' spine over the fabric of his shirt.

"Feeling' a lot better now he's back on his feet." The brunette nodded, Newt humming in acknowledgement. He stood up and made his way over to Frypan, who had the bag full of food open and was handing out various packets to people. He handed Newt a bag of tried apricots, the blond shooting him a smile.

"Thanks Fry'." he crossed the room, back toward Brenda and Thomas. He wavered slightly when the building seemed to shudder. The shudder then turned to a shake, which quickly became a rumble. The others whipped around, confused and bewildered. Newt, who was the only one standing up at the time, landed on his bad foot, sending him crashing to the shaking ground with a yelp. Teresa was at his side in an instant, everyone grabbing onto those closest to them.

"Earthquake." Thomas breathed.

"What do we do?!" Gally yelled over the loud rumble. Thomas opened his mouth to answer, but then the shaking stopped. Everything went still, and the group seemed to collectively hold their breath, wondering silently if they were in the clear. After a few moments of everyone remaining completely frozen, Thomas opened his mouth to give the all clear, when a creaking noise was heard.

It was the sound of metal straining under a bend. Newt's eyes widened as he felt the grip around him tighten in fear. Then there was the sound of nuts busting upward, getting closer and closer as the metal gave way.

"Whats happening!?" Fry asked.

"The earthquake, it moved the sand around the foundations. They're breaking." Was all Jorge could breath. "We need to get down from here, _now_." Then the whole building started to tilt. Newt felt himself slide, the whole building beginning to crash to the ground. Everyone was flung, yelling, off of their feet, toward the ground with the building. 

Newt could hear the screams of those in the levels below him, could see his friends trying to find something to grab onto as they were all thrown to the side. 

"Shit!" He flailed in a desperate attempt to stop himself from crashing into the wall of the building as it crashed into the sand, but it was only getting closer and closer. He squeezed his eyes shut.

He didn't even feel it when he hit the concrete.


	33. Thirty-three

The pounding in his head was almost unbearable, making Newt's eyelids heavy and forcing him to keep his eyes shut. His entire body had a dull ache to it, and he couldn't hear anything. His temple was throbbing within an inch of his life, causing him to involuntarily groan. Thats when the sound came back to him.

Around him, people were yelling and calling, rambled conversations and orders being shouted. Somewhere, close by, someone was murmuring his name.

"Newt?" The voice coaxed, the blond recognising a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Come on gorgeous, I need you to open your eyes." Thomas murmured. Newt's head whined with effort as he slowly pried his eyes open, room spinning and lights blinding him. "Newt?" Thomas asked gently. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"What- what's going on?" He croaked.

"The building fell. You went with it."

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly.

"I'm just fine, and so is everyone else. Rachel seems to have broken her arm, and we're thinking Dan might have cracked open his head, but he's being stitched up right now." He explained. "You're one of the last to wake up, are you alright?" The brunette murmured concernedly, running his fingers through the blonds hair.

"Yeah." he breathed. Thomas pursed his lips, before holding up three fingers.

"How many fingers?"

"Uh-" Newt tried his best to focus his eyes, but everything was blurring into one. "Four." he guessed quietly. Thomas frowned disapprovingly.

"Who introduced the two of us?" He asked. Newt wracked his brain. When had he met Thomas? Had he met Thomas? He'd just kind of been there one day.

"Alby." he decided finally. "In the Glade." 

"I think you just need to take it easy for a while." Thomas decided, helping the blond sit up. The motion made the seconder sway slightly, mind swimming. He repressed a groan, coming out as a quiet whine. "It's alright, I've got you. the brunette wrapped his arms tightly around his boyfriend. "Take it easy. You took a real beating, went head first." he murmured. 

"I didn't mean too." Newt mumbled, earning a soft laugh.

"I know." he murmured, "I'll get Teresa to check you over." 

"Why?" Newt frowned slightly, before deciding against furrowing his brow as it hurt his head.

"You're bleeding." Thomas frowned back, as if it were obvious. The blond blinked, fingers gently going to his temple, coming back covered in red.

"Oh."

"Yeah, ok, you seriously need to take it easy." Thomas hummed, worry lacing his eyes. "Here, I'll stay right here with you." he offered, drawing the blond close. 

"Oh no, you don't have to do that," Newt waved him off, "You have to focus on the others."

'Newt, look around. We're stuck in here, It'll take us a while to find any way out. Sand blocked up every exit we had." The boy sighed.

"Oh." Newt mumbled. "That's not good. What are we gonna do?"

"You don't have to worry about that gorgeous." The brunette waved him off and drew him close. "Get some rest. I'm not explaining anything to you right now."

"Fine." the boy grumbled, eyes happily closing once again.

-

"Hey." Simon sat down next to the blond, who was sat, picking at his beans with his knees drawn up to his chest. Newt blinked in surprise, watching as the boy sat down next to him.

"Uh- hi." he shot the boy a polite smile.

"How you feelin?'" he put a hand on Newt's knee, that the blond glared at, "you hit the deck pretty hard there with Rachel."

"Oh, I'm alright. Feeling a lot better now." he nodded.

"Good." Simon nodded. "So, guess we're stuck here for a couple days, huh?"

"Yeah. Tommy reckons we can dig our way out." Newt explained, putting his beans down. He didn't have much of an appetite.

"Do you think he's right?"

"I think it's risky, and might be a waste of our time, but- I trust Tommy. His decisions usually get us out of trouble, even if I do doubt them sometimes." he shrugged. Simon nodded silently, frowning to his knees.

"Yeah. I suppose." he nodded. "But it's not like all of his decisions are great. He's not a saint." The boy scoffed slightly.

"Well, no," The blond acknowledged, "But none of us would have even made it out of the maze without him."

"I can't say I understand why that's a good enough reason to _worship_ him." the boy grumbled.

"He's not worshipped." Newt laughed, wondering why Simon was so grumpy all of a sudden.

"He is. Everyone thinks he's so damn amazing, and he knows that. He plays up to it, and flirts with _everyone_. He's totally leading you on Newt." 

"No he's not." the seconder laughed, "Tommy would never do that."

"Really?" The glader challenged, "Cuz when you were out he spent a hell of a long time with Brenda. Kept hugging her and cuddling with her." he challenged.

"Yeah, because they're friends." Newt shrugged. "Close friends."

"You don't sound sure of yourself."

"I am sure of myself."

"You shouldn't be with someone untrustworthy."

"He's not untrustworthy."

"He's cheating on you."

"He is not." The blond sighed, standing to move away. Simon grabbed him by the hand, pulling him closer. Newt's foot gave out again, still tender from the fall, and he almost toppled on top of Simon. 

"Alright, thats it!" Suddenly Thomas was there, thrashing at Minho to try and get to Simon. Newt blinked in surprise, scrambling away from the boy, who shot up, striding forward to get into the brunettes face. Minho shoved him backward, allowing Newt to come in between them. "Would you fucking stay away from him?!"

"Why should I?! It's not like you could treat him any better than I could! I am the best person for him!" The boy yelled back. "You could never make him happy!" 

"Guys would you calm d-"

"Are you fucking serious?! Who do you think you are?!"

"Guys."

"A lot more of a man than you!"

"Alright, enough!" Newt span on his heel, throwing a punch into Simons jaw. The boy stumbled back, bewildered and shocked. Then the blond turned to his boyfriend, who was looking smug. "Wipe that smirk off of your face, and sit down." he ordered sharply. Thomas blinked at him, confused. "Sit." He repeated, watching as the brunette took a seat on the floor sulkily. 

Everyone had turned to watch the fight, and was now stood, silent, staring at the blond.

"Listen up shuckfaces." He called. "I know we don't all like each other here, but we are gonna be in here for a few days, and I will not put up with you all trying to rip each others throats out. So either learn to be mature, or next time I will replace my fist with a damn bullet. Now if everyone could stop _fucking_ yelling, that would be greatly appreciated, cuz I've got a banging headache and my patience is wearing thin." he grumbled, before turning an accusing finger at Simon. 

'You. Go over there." he pointed to the corner.

"What?"

"In the corner. _Now._ " he growled. Simon pouted, sulkily marching over to the corner of the room. Newt then turned to the leader. "And you, in the other corner." 

"But-"

"No buts! Corner." he shot down any more protests, Thomas picking himself up and taking himself to the other corner. Newt sighed in relief at the silence, cracking his knuckles. "Fucking five year olds." he grumbled.


	34. Thirty-four

"Alright, I want you all working in shifts for an hour each. You all know your groups?" Thomas called, watching the crowd nod as they stared on at their only way out. It was what was left of the roof, blocked in by debris and sand. The leader figured it wouldn't take long to shift, seeing as they had so many hands. But then again, they didn't know how much debris they had to worry about. "If you get really really tired, take five. Don't strain yourself, and drink regularly." he ordered. The group nodded and murmured out agreements, so he set the first group on their mission and everyone dispersed.

Thomas jumped off of the rock he was stood on, grabbing ahold on Newt's wrist as the blond wandered on past. The boy blinked slowly, turning to him, seemingly dazed. Almost six hours on from the building toppling, Newt seemed to still be feeling the affects. His reaction time was a lot longer, and he seemed to not know where he was going or what he was doing half the time. 

"Newt?"

"Hm?" The blond raised his eyebrows slightly.

"I just wanted to say sorry, about that back there. I don't know what came over me, I just got angry." he shrugged, ashamedly glancing at his feet.

"It's alright Tommy." the boy reassured him. "Although you needn't get jealous." he shrugged, planting a chaste kiss on the leaders cheek. "It's not that hard to see I'm head over heels for you." the brunette flushed slightly, smiling fondly back at the delirious blond, who had seemed to have lost part of his brain to mouth filter.

"I wasn't jealous." he shrugged. "It just made me mad because he waited until you were out of it to make a move on you. I hated the way he touched you, like he was using how strong he is to take advantage on you." he admitted. Newt pursed his lips, coming closer.

"Well, don't worry. I won't go near him anymore. And you can show me what strength can really be used for." he smiled warmly. The brunette crouched down and scooped the blond off of his feet, who only realised what was going on about a second later. "Wah!"

"This." The brunette shrugged as the blond wrapped his arms tight around his shoulders.

"Huh?"

"Your turn in the corner, for some sleep. You still need to rest that head." he shot down any objections, carrying the seconder to the corner of the room. Righting him, Thomas shrugged off his jacket and laid it on the floor, before coaxing his boyfriend on it.

"I feel fine." he protested with a groan, lying down all the same.

"That may be the case but you need all your strength for when it's our shift." he murmured softly.

Newt was already asleep though.

-

"Hiya Chuckie." the boy grinned, sitting down next to the younger, who smiled back. 

"Hey."

"How you feelin'?" 

"Pretty good, all things considered." Chuck hummed, shifting slightly against the wall he'd been propped up against. "Teresa's been taking good care of me."

"Yeah, I heard she and Newt became your stand in parents." the leader laughed slightly, earning a scoff.

"Well, if not letting me do dangerous things and always protecting me is being my stand in parents, than yeah, guess so." he shrugged, although his voice betrayed no bitterness.

"You know they only do it cuz they worry Chuckie." he hummed. The boy nodded, humming.

"I know, I do. And I am helpful. I saved Zart's life back in the paradise." he shot his elder a proud grin.

"I did hear about that." Thomas chuckled lightly "He owes a great deal to you. As do I."

"Well, all in a days work." The boy waved him off, earning a scoff.

"You're way too much like me."

"I take offence in that." Thomas roles his eyes and nudged him in the shoulder playfully. "So, you think we have enough supplies to last us until we get out?"

"Course we do." Thomas frowned. "We got three days, don't worry." Chuck hummed, drawing his knees up closer to his chest. "Don't worry about things like that Chuckie, I promise it's all under control."

"Yeah. I trust you." Those words alone were enough to warm Thomas' heart and give him the motivation he needed for the next few days.

"Well then I best not let you down." He hummed.

-

"How much we got done?" He frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. Alby wiped some sweat from his glistening forehead, putting his hands on his hips.

"We've got a lot done, but it just doesn't seem to be making a difference. It just keeps going." The former leader lead him to where the group were stood, resting and panting with heat. The two groups had managed to make a small alcove off of the edge of the building, but there seemed to be no break in the sand, or any sign of light. Thomas hummed, pressing his hand into the sand in front of him, not managing to shift anything.

"Don't do that." Harriet pleaded with a groan. "You press it in you make it harder to shift." she glowered at him. He laughed sheepishly, shrugging apologetically back at her.

"Sorry mate." he hummed. "I'm just tryna figure out things." he kept pressing around, much to the girls dismay. Thats when Minho drew up next to him, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, you got any idea of where to go shank?" He asked.

"A faint one. It's dumb though." The brunette murmured.

"Why did I get the feeling you were gonna say that?" Alby groaned back. Thomas just held out a hand.

"Trowel?" He asked. Harriet dug her own out from her belt, handing it to him. He hummed, prodding at the ceiling of sand. Immediately a clump gave way, falling to the floor.

"Well shit, why weren't we digging up this whole time?" The girl grumbled.

"When we hit, we must have gotten covered in the sand, maybe there was a storm. We gotta dig up." Thomas hummed.

"We dig up, it'll fall onto our heads." Minho raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"You just wanna dig your way back to the beach on three days supplies?" The brunette challenged, crossing his arms over his chest. Minho seemingly held his tongue, huffing.

"It's dumb."

"Yeah. It is." He agreed. Alby grabbed a shovel from the wall, prodding the ceiling with it. Some more sand fell at his feet, and the former leader kept prodding and poking at more of the grains until he hit a large slab of debris.

"So how do we deal with that?" 

"You dig around it, like when you try to dig out a stone from the mud." Thomas shrugged.

"Yeah no shit you stick." Harriet groaned. "I was more thinking about, what happens when it falls out and crushes Alby's head?"

"We hope that he has quick reaction times." Minho shrugged, "That's Thomas' master plan." 

"Remind me to not get Newt to do this." The brunette murmured, ignoring his comment and Alby's look of worry at the lack of reassurance.

"Will do." The asian hummed, smacking him on the back.

'Hang on hang on," Alby held out the shovel accusingly. "Are we gonna gloss over the part where I get crushed under a rock?"

"Eh." Thomas shrugged. "You got good reaction times?"

"I mean- sure, pretty good I guess." He muttered, slightly confused. Thomas smacked the boy on the back, nodding.

"Nothing to worry about then."

"Christs sake." Alby groaned.


	35. Thirty-five

"We're runnin' low man." Minho murmured, running a tired hand over his face.

"I know, I know." Newt sighed back. Day two of digging was proving to not hold much progress. Whilst the group were steadily digging, there was no signs of any light, and the labour had everyone starving and dehydrated. "We'll figure it out."

"There's nothing to figure out Newt, we need to get out of here before we all starve to death." Minho murmured lowly back to him, the two stood, heads held close together in the corner of the room.

"We're gonna make it." the second reassured him. "We must be close now, we've been digging for two days."

"Do you think we're close?" The runner raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." The blond nodded. "I think it's gonna be tight." he admitted. "But we'll make it."

"And what if we don't?"

"Then we'll find another way out." he shrugged. "We're not gonna die here, we know Tommy won't let that happen. Ad neither will you. And neither will I." he shrugged. The asian hummed, nodding slightly.

"Yeah, you're right."

"Slim it Min', alright? We'll be just fine." he reassured him, trying to empower as much certainty into his dark eyes as he could. His friend nodded, sighing lowly.

"Right, right. Back to it then."

-

"We gotta be close." He put his hands on his hips, sighing. 

"I dunno man." Brenda murmured, staring up at the alcove they were making upward. "I think theres just this bit of rubble, we can't shift. I dunno how far it goes on for, or how big it is."

"Can't we just work around it?" The boy frowned, glancing at his friend, who pursed her lips in uncertainty.

"Well, we could, but it's risky. If it's not held up by anything but the sand around it, it'll fall on someones head." she explained. Newt frowned. He'd missed Brenda. The girl had been quite a big part of his life in the last six months, her sharp mind easily matching his own brain, if not surpassing it. It was nice to have someone so lively and intelligent with them. He enjoyed her company greatly.

"Well, we won't know unless we try it." the boy countered. Brenda pulled a face at him, scrunching up her nose.

"You're starting to sound like Thomas."

"Is that a bad thing?" He chuckled, watching as she waved him off and stared up at the blockage.

"Course not, just think, one Thomas is enough, ya know?"

"I will second you on that." he laughed. "Hard enough work as is."

"Tell me about it. At least you didn't have to put up with his whining about how much he missed you and needed you when we were at the haven." she scoffed, sparing the blond a glance, who shot her an over-exaggerated offended look her way.

"Are you saying you weren't upset by my untimely death?"

"Nah." She waved him off, earning a shove and a scoff.

-

"So, I'm thinking if we move this, everything's gonna fall." Alby pointed to a chunk of debris lodged in with others. It was like playing a game of Jenga, yet everything had to be perfect or someone would die. Sp, a fucked up version of Jenga, that Newt would rather not play.

"Alright." Thomas hummed, "So, you think you can move out of the way quick enough?" He asked. 

"Thomas!" Newt immediately shot down. "Not on, he's not doing something so stupid." 

"Oh Newt, I'll be fine, I can move in time." Alby waved him off, the blond pursing his lips and furrowing his brow.

"You're not doing that." he stood his ground. "That's just wasting your life for no reason." he tried to reason, standing his ground.

"No it's not." Alby countered. "It's necessary." he shrugged, grip tightening around his shovel. Newt stared at him for a moment, before crossing his arms over his chest and running his tongue over his teeth.

"You know, surprisingly, your death isn't high on my priority list." he almost laughed. "There's a million better ways to go about this." Sonya frowned, from where she was told next to Thomas and Harriet, motioning toward her brother.

"He's got a point. No one has to be put in any danger." Newt shot her an appreciative nod, but was snuffed out by Harriets sigh.

"It'll be fine. You guys are worrying too much. Alby's got this." She ushered the boy forward, egged on from Alby's nod of approval. Newt raised his eyebrows at Thomas expectantly.

"Tommy? Your opinion?" He asked, praying that the brunette could see how stupid the idea actually was.

"Sorry Newt, but I think Alby's got this." he shrugged. Minho frowned at the leader, glancing back at Newt, who just bit his tongue and shook his head disapprovingly.

"Fine." he practically growled, standing back, next to Minho and Sonya, who was sighing frustratedly. Thomas shot him an apologetic glance before nodding at Alby, who tightened his grip around the shovel again. The boy lifted it up, prodding at the debris. With a few scrapes, the rock gave way, landing next to Alby's feet. The boy dodged it easily, glancing back up. Covering his eyes from the dust, he watched the large chunk of rock that they could just not shift slowly loose around the sand. Sonya and Thomas had ahold of his forearm before he could even blink, yanking him out of the way as the chunk hit the ground with a deafening thud. 

Alby stood dumbfounded for a second, blinking at Newt, who glared back, thin lipped. Still, the blond couldn't help but raise an eyebrow to check on his friend, who nodded in conformation the he was alright.

"Really glad your big Alpha male acts getting you somewhere." Sonya grumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harriet shot back.

"In case you forgot, theres a reason you all have second in commands, alright? Theres a reason you listen to what we have to say. You're the brawn, we're the brains, which means that when we suggest something, we're probably right." she bit back sourly. Thomas shot them another apologetic look, before turning to Alby.

"Y'alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks Thomas, Sonya." he nodded gratefully.

"S'alright." Sonya waved him off.

"We got light." Newt muttered boredly, pointing to the important factor that no one was paying attention to. Of course he was excited to finally get out, but he wasn't sure how much longer he could take the passive aggressive fight between Thomas, Harriet and Alby over who had better ideas, and who could survive longer. He wasn't going to let them get themselves killed over something so petty and stupid. Sonya clearly had the same idea.

"Oh thank christ." Minho groaned. "Lets shucking get out of here, and get to the damn boat."


	36. Thirty-six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Slight self harm, it's not anything bad, just for blood ya know

The blond counted slowly from the back, before turning back to humming and picking the sand from beneath his nails. The universe had seemingly taken pity on the group since the escapade of trying to dig their way out of the tower, and they'd managed to find enough supplies to get them back to the boat. And although they'd finished off all the supplies they had been planning on getting back for the haven, everyone was alive, so Newt considered it a win. 

By Thomas' calculations, and Newt's memory, they were close to the boat. His stomach had began to churn with nerves. Although Newt knew inside that there were still a few days to go before he actually made it to the safe haven, he was still the closest he'd ever been to the prospect of safety, considering the fact that the first time around he'd been planning on taking himself off to die at the last moment.

There was a cheer from the front of the crowd, Newt was taking up the rear, and as the stragglers crossed the last dune, the harbour and large boat, floating in the gentle waved came into view. A large grin spread across the seconders face, and he found Chuck in the crowd, excitably tugging on Teresa's arm to hurry up. He smiled fondly, heart warming at the excitable faces around him as the group picked up the pace toward safety.

Newt continued to take it slowly, he was in charge of making sure no one got left behind after all, despite the excitement and nerves bubbling in his abdomen and telling him to _get there quicker._ Still, he ignored it and continued to round up the group, humming contentedly.

When the group finally began to board onto the boat, Newt was stood, hands pocketed, on the edge of the small dock, waiting on the mainland for his turn, when he heard a low groan. The boy whipped around, hand going to his gun immediately. There was nothing around the deserted town though, and no one else had seemed to notice anything. So, he decided it must have been figment of his imagination and went back to waiting.

Two minutes later though, a shriek ripped through the air.

The others heard it that time.

Newt turned again, only to see three cranks, running rampantly toward the group, who had been caught off guard completely. He had to draw the away. But there was no way they'd turn and run after one person when there were fifty to attack.

He had to think fast.

Newt knew what cranks worked off of. It was blood. The smell of blood was almost completely overpowering to them, which was why it had been so hard for Newt to gain control again after he'd stabbed Thomas in the shoulder.

"Tommy is gonna kick my ass." The blond grumbled, grabbing his knife and jamming it into his forearm. He cried out at the pain, drawing the blade down the skin, creating a deep gash. He pocketed his knife with a grimace, before pinching at the flesh around the wound. The people around him watched as the seconder groaned and cried in pain, still drawing more blood.

"OI, ASSHOLES." He called, sticking his arm in the air. The attention of the cranks was caught, and they turned and snapped at him like animals. "COME AND GET SOME OF THIS." He waved his arm, smearing the rest of his uncovered skin with his blood. The monsters turned their attention on him, and Newt swallowed. 

The four of them froze, almost as if waiting for one of the others. Keeping his eyes on them, Newt murmured to the girl next to him,

"Rosie, make sure Tommy gets them on that boat. If I'm not back, don't wait for me." he muttered. The girl opened her mouth to protest, but the boy broke the frozen movement, taking off away from the dock. Three screams told him what he didn't need to look back to know.

The blond thundered down the deserted streets, trying to find anything, anything that could give him a vantage point or some way to kill them. His arm was throbbing, lack of blood and the spilling of it from the wound making the blond pale and weak at the knees. He kept running though, pulling his handgun from his belt and stopping short at the end of a street.

Wheeling on his toes, he held the weapon, shaking slightly at the lack of blood, pointing it at one of the cranks. He took a deep breath, and squeezed the trigger.

The closest crank's scream was cut short and it jarred itself to the ground, other two not even sparing it a glance. Newt reloaded immediately, squeezing again.

He was out.

"Shit." 

He whipped around once again, diving to the left out of the way of the two perusers, who went skidding slightly but soon regained their footing. Leg quivering with the strength, the blond pushed up on it with a cry, faltering in his running. He slid into another street, before turning around. He unjammed his knife from his belt loop too, beginning to run backward. He just needed a good shot. 

Squeezing one eye shut, he raised his good arm and threw the knife, watching it spin in the air as if flew back toward the cranks. It embedded itself into the left's eye socket with a crunch, and Newt almost whooped as it toppled to the ground.

He span back around, yelping and skidding to a stop, almost having run directly into a wall.

"Fuck, fuck, no no." he groaned, whipping around for any exit. The only exit had been blocked by a large plank of wood, which the blond could easily crawl under, if he had the time.

But Newt did not. 

He turned back around, watching helplessly as the crank rushed toward him. Out of weapons, out of time, this was it.

Newt resisted the urge to squeeze his eyes shut as the crank dove forward, mouth open wide.

And then Thomas was there, crying out in pain as the crank sank it's teeth deep into his forearm. Newt gasped, watching the brunette almost growl in determination as he pushed back on the burly monster, making it skid backward as he showed forward by the arm. He glowered down the monster that was now trying to squeal and squirm it's way away, trying to dislodge it's teeth from the boys arm, as Thomas grabbed a scruff of it's head and slammed it backward into the wall. The monster violently squirmed, finally managing to untangle itself.

It began to claw itself at Thomas, but the leader was already crushing it's head back into the wall. It jarred slightly, wriggling becoming slightly less aggressive. The brunette growled again, before slamming it's head against the brickwork once more. The monster stopped moving, beside from the odd twitch, and it slid down to the ground. 

Thomas watched it for a moment, back to Newt.

"Tommy.." he breathed.

"Don't you ever pull that shit again." the boy murmured lowly, eyes still on the crank in front of him. The dangerous tone put the blond on edge slightly, and he swallowed. "You hear me?" The boy asked sharply.

"Yeah..I- I hear you." Newt nodded quickly, although Thomas couldn't see. "I'm sorry." 

Thomas wheeled around, pulling him into a tight embrace. Newt hesitated, before relaxing and hugging back tightly. He tried not to let himself relax too much, he didn't trust himself not to collapse from the lack of blood. "Thank you." was all he could breath. "We gotta get you back, you're bleeding." Thomas drew back, gently taking Newt's forearm in his palms.

"So are you."

"I'm fine. Immune, ya know?" The boy shrugged. Newt frowned lightly.

"Doesn't excuse the large chunk missing from your arm. Come on, let's get you back." Thomas nodded with a hum, letting Newt take his hand. The blond began to lead his boyfriend back the way he came. His legs were burning, and his vision was beginning to blur. The boy wasn't sure how much more walking he could take. Still, he pushed forward, leading the brunette back to the boat.

"Newt.." Thomas mumbled weakly from behind him when they were on the very edge of the dock. The blond turned back to his boyfriend, who just smiled weakly at him. Then his eyes rolled backward and the leader sank to his knees, falling unconscious. Newt yelped in surprise, immediately dropping to his knees.

Minho, Teresa and Brenda rushed out, from where they had evidently been anxiously waiting on the boat.

"What happened?!" The runner asked, grabbing Thomas by the biceps. 

"I- I don't- He must have lost too much blood." was all the blond could whisper, disoriented and lightheaded.

"Come on, let's get him inside and get out of here."


	37. Thirty-seven

Thomas' eyes fluttered open and he groaned, dull throbbing coming from his arm. Brenda was there in an instant, smiling down at him.

"Morning lover boy." she grinned. He grumbled slightly, blinking in the lights and the swaying of wherever he was. It took him a few moments to recognise the steady swaying as the boat, and that he was on a bunk on the old, rusted boat, on the way back to the safe haven.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, voice hoarse with dehydration. Brenda must have noticed, as she turned to a water bottle perched on a table as she talked, catching it up for him.

"Newt told us all about what happened. It was reckless of you, you know that right?" She raised her eyebrows expectantly, passing him the bottle, which he opened hastily and poured down his throat.

"I'd rather it was me than him." he muttered.

"Well he clearly thinks the same about you." she shrugged, sitting in a chair opposite his bed.

"What do you mean?" He frowned slightly, glancing down at his arm. His whole forearm was bandaged tightly, and by the looks of things was on it's way to healing, as there was no signs that it was still bleeding or had been recently. Thomas wondered how long he'd been out. Brenda held her tongue for a moment, sighing slightly.

"Don't flip your shit."

"What? Why would I flip my shit Brenda?" He asked, confused and slightly skeptical.

"Ok," she sighed, rolling her eyes, "You lost a lot of blood, and Teresa said you needed more. Turns out," she waved her hand vaguely in his direction, "you have kind of a rare blood type. Anyway, they needed someone with the same blood type, and fast, or you could die. So a few of us did a quick blood test, and it turns out you have the same blood type as Newt." She trailed off slightly.

"If you're about to tell me what I think you're going too, I swear Brenda, I _will_ flip my shit." he warned.

"Don't get mad at me! It was his idea! And we all told him that it was too risky, that he'd lost too much blood as it was, but he was adamant." she shrugged. "So, Teresa went ahead with it, and here you are."

"Yeah, here I am but where is he?" The leader demanded, worry and annoyance fluttering in his stomach.

"Resting." the girl quelled his worries. "He's just fine Thomas, you've got nothing to worry about. You've been out for a few days, like, three, I think, and he's pretty weak on his feet. But he's alright. Just worried about you." she explained, absently scratching at her chin.

"Well can I see him?" 

"Sure."

-

Brenda led him down the corridor of the ship, knocking on a door almost flush to the thin wall. When there was no reply, she pushed up on her tiptoes, glancing through the small window.

"He's waking up, takes him a while. Just don't be too hard on him." she advised, stepping back for the brunette, who gave her a nod and a grateful smile. "Oh, and Thomas?"

"Yeah?"

"I promise he looks worse than he is." she assured him, Thomas frowning with another nod and making his way into the room. The blond was slowly swinging his legs over the side of the bed, deathly pale, with his arm also wrapped in bandages. His clothes seemed to hang off of his lanky figure, his eyes set deep with dark bags underneath them. He looked so frail and weak, almost like you could snap him in half. The brunettes heart ached, and he knelt down slowly in front of the boy.

"Newt?" The boy blinked at him, seemingly trying to work out who he was for a few seconds, before he cracked into a huge grin, seeming to make him ten times more lively.

"Tommy!" He tried weakly, voice coming out as an excitable murmur. "You're ok." he smiled softly.

"Yeah gorgeous, but are you?" The brunette frowned, sitting next to the boy on the bed.

"Oh, I'm ok," he was waved off, "It looks worse than it is." he assured his boyfriend, who sighed and wrapped an arm around him.

"You didn't have to give your blood for me."

"Well you didn't have to get yourself bitten for me but here we are." the blond glanced at him, small smug smirk on his lips.

"I was protecting you." the brunette protested.

"You're a pain in my ass." Newt shot back.

" _Yeah I am._ " Thomas laughed back, earning a smack to the chest. Newt retracted the smacks sentiments by putting his head on Thomas' shoulder, humming slightly. 

"You missed it." he murmured softly.

"Missed what?" The brunette asked, running small circles on the boys forearm.

"Teresa and Minho. Gally and I caught them in a cupboard together." he snorted.

" _No you didn't._ " Thomas drew back to look at the seconders face, only to find him giggling to himself and nodding.

"We did! We were hanging out, lookin' for shit, and we opened this cupboard and they were kissin'. Gally started running around screaming about how his eyes burnt, and I could not stop laughing." he cackled lightly. "Turns out they got back together back when we were stuck in the tower, but no one knew." he shrugged, "They keep running off together, it's _gross_." he scrunched up his nose in disgust.

"No it's not." Thomas laughed. "People have sex gorgeous, that's just life."

"Yeah, but I don't want my innocent eyes burned." Newt groaned back, the brunette rolling his eyes.

"Innocent my ass."

"Rude!" The seconder smacked him on the chest again. "How dare you accuse me of _sin?_ "

"You _are_ a sin."

"Well you're an ass."

-

Thomas was waiting for it when Teresa stepped into the room she'd been taking care of him in, followed closely by Minho. He had his arms crossed over his chest and his eyebrows raised expectantly.

"Well well well, look what we have here." Teresa practically jumped out of her skin, Minho just groaning and flipping him off.

"Who told you?" He asked, the scientist just rolling her eyes and crossing the room to take a look at the boys arm.

"Who do you think Min'?" She asked, unwrapping the bandages, as Thomas silently complied.

"I dunno, Brenda?" The runner shrugged, jumping up onto the unused stop bunk.

"Nah. blond one with the cute ass." Thomas corrected. "Ya know, the one who caught you two fucking in a closet with Gally?" He raised his eyebrows, Teresa visibly refraining from slapping his injured arm that she was analysing.

"We weren't fucking." she rolled her eyes.

"You weren't telling me is what you were doing." the brunette shot back sulkily.

"Why did you need to know?" Minho asked.

"You're my best friend Min'!" Thomas tired. "Bro code and all that." he shrugged. "And you're supposed to tell me Teresa, cuz'.. you just are." he would have crossed his arms over his chest if he could've.

"Well, I'm very sorry." the girl laughed. "But you know now."

"I mean, it's about damn time." he grumbled. "You guys were seriously pining."

"I don't pine." The asian shot back, Thomas almost choking on the statement.

"Ha! Sorry Romeo, what happened to the 'Teresa this, Teresa that, when will she notice my lonesome soul? Oh woe is me'?" He dramatically draped a hand over his forehead, Teresa turning to glance back at her boyfriend over her shoulder, who was glaring daggers into Thomas' soul.

"At least I don't drool over Teresa every time I see her." he shot back.

"At least I realise I'm drooling over Newt." he shrugged.

"I don't drool!" The runner shot back.

"Rude." Teresa pouted saltily back at him.

"Oh shit, put your foot in it now mate." Thomas smirked cockily, Minho groaning.

"No babe, you know I think you're beautiful." he tried to save it.

"I won't believe you unless I actually see drool." she shrugged.

"You can't use Thomas' and Newt's relationship as a marker for ours!" He laughed, the girl sniggering as Thomas began to chuckle.

"Thomas said Newt has a cute ass and he's not even in here, he's not even trying to impress Newt!" The scientist motioned back to Thomas.

"You have a great ass too Teresa." The brunette nodded, the girl snorting.

"Thank you Tom! See, that's how you do it Min'." 

"Why are you looking at her ass?!" The runner asked, with a laugh.

"Oh shit right, Minho, attack!"

"Wait no!"


	38. Thirty-eight

"That's not good." Newt frowned, drumming his fingers on his bicep, glancing outward at the clouds. Jorge hummed, glancing back at them.

"No, it's not." 

"But we'll be fine, we can just stay inside." Thomas shrugged. "This ship is fucking huge, a storm'll do nothing to it." he didn't sound very convinced.

"It's huge, but it's old. A storm could do a lot of damage." The man admitted lowly.

"Ok, so how do we minimise that risk?" Minho asked.

"I'm gonna need some people below deck, checking for holes and gaps." Jorge listed off, humming at the clouds barreling toward the large ship. "And then, as stupid as it sounds, I'm gonna need people up top, sweeping away the water." 

"There better be a damn good reason, to put people in _that much_ danger." Thomas frowned disapprovingly, Newt nodding.

"Things get washed away, and I mean, water gets in here and the electricity goes, excuse my french, but we're fucked." The man sighed, clearly displeased with their situation.

"Any chance mother nature could just cut us some damn slack?" The asian grumbled under his breath.

"There's not a more effective way to get rid of the water? Sweeping it?" the blond frowned.

"Look." Jorge averted his gaze away from the dark, thundering clouds, and watched the three. "I don't really care how you do it, you asked me what needed to be done, and I'm telling ya." he put his hands up in surrender. "You just gotta get it done."

"We will." Thomas muttered absentmindedly, paying more attention to the obvious ticking in his mind, trying to divide and figure out what had to be done. "We'll get it done." he nodded again, more sure of himself after a few moments. "Thanks Jorge. Just- get us out safe, yeah?"

"You got it hermano."

-

"You know, surprisingly enough, I'm kind of fed up of the world putting us in life threatening situations." Brenda shrugged from the railing, bitterly.

"Well, precipitation doesn't seem to care." Thomas sighed. "Jorge reckons it'll pass through tonight." he briefed the small group, who he'd obviously chosen to do the more threatening work. Newt watched Thomas with a slight ache in his heart. He looked so tired and worn, and the blond wondered how he managed to still find it in his heart to be so selfless and sharp.

"One night of shovelling water off the deck of a boat?" Brenda clarified skeptically.

"Yes." The brunette shot back, almost sharply. "I asked you all, because I trust you to keep us safe and be able to do it." he explained. "So, if you'd rather try to patch up holes with a bunch of underprepared and confused gladers down there, be my guest." Brenda grumbled at that, holding her tongue. "Good," Thomas nodded, "Come on, get what you need, it's gonna be a long night." he waved off the small group, all hurrying off to find brooms and mops.

Newt caught the brunette by the bicep, Thomas glancing up with his eyebrows.

"Hm?'

"Are you alright?" The seconder frowned. Thomas stopped, furrowing his brow slightly.

"Yeah. Why?" he asked, almost skeptically.

"No reason really," Newt shrugged, "you just look tired. And I worry about you." he admitted. Thomas squeezed his hand reassuringly, shooting him a small smile.

"Well don't. I'm fine. I'll have a long sleep when we get back to the safe haven." he scoffed slightly. The blond huffed slightly, not convinced that Thomas was truly 100%. But, as Thomas' boyfriend and seconder, he had to take his word for it.

He drew the brunette closer by the bicep, closing the space between them. Thomas hummed into his lips, snaking his arms around the blonds thin waist. The seconder ran his fingers into the boy's hair, earning another satisfied hum. The kisses were soft and gentle, tender and caring. But apparently the way Newt's nails raked over Thomas' scalp made the leader's grip tighten around his boyfriend, and his hand trailed down to the blonds thigh, drawing him closer still.

Newt groaned lowly when he felt Thomas' tongue run over his bottom lip, and the other boy seemingly took it as an opportunity to slip his tongue into Newt's mouth, earning a quite whine. The blond met his tongue quickly, mewling quietly when Thomas squeezed his thigh.

"Oi!" Newt almost groaned again, this time in annoyance, and he made a move to draw away from Thomas to listen to Minho, but the leader wasn't having it. "Unless you're planning on sweeping the water off the deck with your shucking tongues, I don't think you're being very productive." the asian scolded. Newt moved away again, this time being allowed, but not before the brunette gently took ahold of his bottom lip between his teeth.

"I'm not tired anymore." Thomas shrugged, patting the boy's thigh before moving away.

"Are you kidding? I need a fucking lie down after that." the blond grumbled back.

-

Newt attempted to flick some hair out of his eyes, but it pasted itself to his forehead, mirroring the rest of his clothes. He was soaked through and shivering, sweeping and bucketing the water that was cascading on the deck, before throwing it back into the sea.

They'd been working for almost three hours, and the ache in his joints and in his arms was almost unbearable. People were slipping and sliding, and as they got tired, the likelihood of someone falling off the boat as it tipped and swayed on the rocky waves was becoming a lot higher.

Newt slid into Teresa's shoulder, who's hair was whipping about in the wind.

"You ok?!" He called out, sweeping a large puddle of water off of the railings.

"Yeah, are you?!" She asked, bucketing water pooling and throwing it off of the side.

"Yeah!" He nodded. 

"Shit!" They whipped around at Minho, who was gripping onto Thomas in an attempt to stay up right.

"Wave!" The brunette called, the two going to grab onto eachother. But the large cascade of water had already slammed into the deck, sending Newt sprawling. 

"Newt!" The blond shot up, only to see Teresa sliding toward the edge. He cursed, throwing himself at her hand, gripping on tightly. The sliding of their skin made it harder, and he began to skid toward the edge.

"Fuck!" Suddenly there was a hand on his ankle, and Chuck was struggling backward, in a desperate attempt to move them away from the railings. Newt grabbed his spare hand, tugging himself backward and bringing Teresa with. Then the ship sway the other way, sending them all skidding the other way.

"Thanks Chuckie!" She thanked him breathlessly, the younger boy smiling at the two of them. Newt stood up shakily again, sliding his way toward his broom. Then the boat shifted again, sending him into the railings with a thud, winding him. It was then made worse, when Alby slammed into his back.

"Shit!" He wheezed, managing to twist around, almost laughing with the obscurity of the scene, and the sight of everyone sprawling around the deck. Alby put his hands on the rating either side of Newt, keeping the blond from skidding anywhere else. "Been a while since you pressed me up against anything mate." he scoffed, patting the boys chest. Alby scoffed, rolling his eyes fondly.

"I hate you."

"Sure." The boat moved backward again, and Alby's grip slipped, sending them both flying toward the opposite railing. The blond swore again, managing to catch a hold of Sonya's hand on the way past.

"You alright?!" She called, drawing him closer.

"Yeah! You?!" He asked back. She nodded, before turning to Thomas. "Thomas, I'm not sure how much longer we can keep this up for!" Thomas nodded in understanding, deep frown on his face, although Newt guessed that might have been from the rain.

"Yeah and I-"

"Brenda!" Newt whipped around, watching Teresa dive for an unconscious Brenda, slipping toward the railing. She squirmed her way toward her friend, but their hands wouldn't stick, and she slipped out of the girls grasp. Chuck made a dive for it, grabbing Brenda's whole wrist and hauling her backward, with a groan of effort. Newt and his sister slid toward the girl, but Thomas was there quicker. He took her up in his arms, watching as blood poured from a gash on her forehead.

"Tommy, get her inside!" Newt ordered, 'We'll keep going!"

"Are you sure?!" The boy called back.

"Yes!" he nodded, "Go!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, two more chapters after this (off, all my fics have forty chapters we know this lmao)  
> So, I thought I'd give you a little update on my next fic, because I do have an idea, but it's not finalised yet, and I still need to work on it. So, I was thinking in the mean time, I had some ideas for some one-shots to keep you guys entertained lmao. But, I'd write like, long ones, not those less than 1000 word ones I do for my fics, which means I may not have anything up every night, cuz I would wanna take my time with the one-shots. I just wanted to know what you guys thought about that? Let me know in the comments! Thanks so much for all your support, you guys know it's all your kudos and feedback that gives me motivation to keep writing! Love you all! <33


	39. Thirty-nine

Newt watched the brunette gently stroke the wet hair from the girls face as she came round. The blond hugged the blanket closer to himself, shivering slightly, despite his now warm and dry clothes. He was grateful for the waves having evened out, now gently rocking the ship and it's passengers, instead of throwing them around. They'd been lucky enough to make the night without any holes in the boat, and no other injuries, besides Brenda.

She groaned, hand automatically going to her head. Jorge held her hand and gently took it away, not wanting her to accidentally hurt herself.

"How you feeling Bren'?" Thomas asked softly, smiling down at her. She blinked around the room at the faces around her, before glancing back at the concerned brunette.

"Fine, I think." she murmured, "My head hurts a bit, but I'm ok." she nodded, smiling at the two holding her hands. "What happened?"

"You hit your head." Jorge explained, "It was really slippy out there," he sighed slightly, running a cracked hand down his worn face, "I'm sorry Brenda, I never wanted to put you in danger."

"Don't be stupid," she gave his hand a gentle squeeze, and part of Newt frowned in confusion. It had always confused him how the two had been so close, the amount of trust that had been built up over who knew how long. "I volunteered to do it. And there are more people on this ship that lives matter than just mine, you were doing what was best for the majority." He huffed slightly, squeezing her hand back. The girl turned her attention to Thomas, grinning up at him. "Almost lost me mate, hope you were worried."

"Nah, not really." he scoffed back, earning an eye roll.

"He's been pacing for the past half hour." Newt piped up, the girl scoffing.

"Thomas!"

"I was worried!" He tried to defend.

"Well that's sweet of you," she rolled her eyes again, albeit fondly. "Everything go smoothly without me?" 

"As smoothly as it could've gone. No holes, no other injuries, and we're out of the storm. Pretty close to the haven as well, as far as I know." The brunette hummed, the girl nodding back in understanding and slight contemplation.

"I can't wait." she scoffed.

"Can't wait for what?" Jorge asked, furrowing his brow slightly.

"For Vince to see Newt. He is gonna loose his shit." She laughed, the blond rolling his eyes and laughing slightly.

-

Newt was nervous. He was pacing the room in a silent panic when Thomas came in, searching for him. He frowned from the doorway for a moment in confusion.

"Uh- Newt, what are you doing?" He asked. The blond sat down on his bunk with a huff, beginning to bite at his nails. His boyfriend took it as an invitation to sit down next to him, gently tugging his fingers away from his mouth.

"I'm just nervous."

"About what?"

"Making it to the safe haven. I just- safety is a weird thing to me, and I don't know how to take it, and there's gonna be so many new things, and I want to fit in, I just- ugh I'm making no sense."

"You are," Thomas drew the blond's hand up to his own mouth, kissing it lightly. "But you have absolutely nothing to worry about. We'll help you all settle in. And I'll help you." Newt nodded at his lap, sighing.

"Sorry."

"Don't be. If I was awake when I got to the haven, i probably would have been shitting it too." The blond scoffed at that, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not shitting it. I'm not a scaredy cat." he pouted slightly, the brunette laughing.

"No, you're very strong and scary." he nodded back.

"Grr."

"Aw."

"No!"

-

"Newt come quick!" Chuck grabbed him by the hand from where he was trying to nap, dragging the bleary-eyed blond up onto the deck. Newt squinted against the sudden light, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment before blinking in the sight. "There!" Everyone was up on the deck, staring at what was ahead of them.

Newt could have cried.

He'd seen the safe haven from the others point of view of course, but the screen in the paradise really hadn't done it justice. The island stretched just short of the horizon, with golden soft sand, and gentle, featherlight waves lapping at its surface. The green grass was vibrant, stretching up large hills and mountains. The sun was just coming up over the island, giving the whole thing a kind of golden glow, as if a dream. On the island, jut further back from where the sand merged into the greenery, there were huts and tents, little dots of people either going about their day, or stood at the shore, waving the ship in.

Newt felt someone squeeze his forearm, and it was only then that he felt the tears pricking at his eyes. He turned his head, burying it in Thomas' shoulder to try and stifle the tears of happiness forming at his eyes. The brunette drew his arms around him, allowing Newt to sigh in the scent of his boyfriend.

"It's so beautiful."he whispered happily, glancing up from his shoulder to gaze back at the island as it got closer.

"You haven't seen it at night yet." Minho murmured from behind them, staring on happily at his home.

-

"Newt?!" The blond grinned sheepishly at the man stepping toward him, who looked confused and slightly wary.

"Hi Vince." he grinned, jumping from the plank and stepping forward into the soft sand.

"How- you- I- what?" The man tried, eyes moving upward to the mass of people, that had definitely not been on that boat when the group had set off. "There is a lot of people here." he muttered. Thomas jumped from the boat, stepping forward and guy-hugging Vince with a grin.

"Y'alright Dad? How's it been?" He scoffed. Vince crossed his arms over his chest.

"You better have a fucking good excuse as to why Newt is back form the dead and you seem to have formed a new damn colony. How many of you are there?!"

"60?" The brunette asked sheepishly.

"Thomas!"

"Listen, I'll explain everything later. Let's get these people settled first." he offered as compromise.

"At least tell me you have the supplies for this amount of people?" The man almost pleaded, running a hand through his hair. The brunette laughed sheepishly, earning a groan. _"Thomas."_

"We got stuck in a tower, we had to use them! But we have a bit, and now we have more people to get supplies." he shrugged.

"You have been back thirty seconds and you've already given me a damn headache." Vince grumbled. "Get them off then, I'll sort it." the brunette grinned, clambering back onto the boat. "Newt?"  The older blond caught him by the forearm. "I don't know how you're here, but, for what it's worth, missed havin' you around, kid."

"Thanks. Missed being around you guys."


	40. Forty

"I'm not gonna lie, I might miss it." Newt scoffed lightly, weighing the knife in his hand. Thomas hummed in front of him as they trudged up the hill, raising an eyebrow at him.

"You'd rather keep the knife, or me?" The blond scoffed, pressing the knife back into his belt.

"You." he grumbled. Thomas let the blond catch up with him, the seconder jogging slightly and then taking ahold of his hand.

"Really? You don't seem very enthusiastic." he hummed teasingly. Newt rolled his eyes.

"Shush." he drew his jacket closer around his shoulders in the dark, following Thomas blindly. He had no idea where they were going, or why Thomas had thought it was a good idea to come out in the midst of night without a flashlight, but as per usual, when the brunette had awoken him and told him to follow, he'd obliged without any question.

"Alright, here." Thomas stopped, the blond following him up onto a lip, the breath catching in his throat. They were perched on the side of a hill, the island stretched out before them. A dark wood was below them, a navy in the darkness. Newt could see the waves from afar, glistening every time the moonlight caught on them. He glanced up, and had to do a double take.

"Holy shit."

The sky was peppered with stars, as per usual, but there was no clouds on the clear night, giving way to large swirls and splatters of a lighter blue, twinkling lights collecting around them. The whole night sky seemed to move with light, the whole thing twinkling, almost like the waves of the sea.

"Gorgeous isn't it?" 

"It's fucking amazing." Newt whispered, hand subconsciously tightening around his boyfriends. "There's so many stars, I- I don't know what to say." he almost laughed in disbelief and wonder.

"Well you're still my favourite." the brunette murmured, Newt managing to avert his eyes and scoff. 

"I'm not a bloody star Tommy."

"You are." he insisted, earning a fond eye roll and a slight nudge. "Now, come on, we're up here for a reason." he announced, hand slipping from Newt's.

"Right, right."  he hummed, slipping his hand around his knife and tugging it from his belt once more. Thomas slipped the necklace from a round his neck, looking at it with a long sigh. "Come on Tommy, you've got the new one." The seconder nudged him again softly.

"I know, I know." the brunette hummed back, hand wrapping around the wooden star, placed perfectly in-between his collarbone. "Right, you ready?"

"Sure." he nodded, grip tightening around the hilt of the knife. "Do you want to go first?"

"If I must." the leader muttered, taking one last meaningful glance at the cylinder, before reeling his arm back and throwing the necklace off of the edge of the cliff. The two watched silently as it plunged into the deep abyss of the dark forest below. "Bye." Thomas muttered to the trees below him.

"Good riddance." Newt grumbled.

"Your turn" Thomas ignored him and nudged at his shoulder. The seconder sighed down at his knife, stepping back slightly.

"Bye knife." he murmured, before turning sideways and side stepping toward the edge, letting go of the weapon and watching it spin into the darkness below.

"So thats that then." Thomas hummed, pocketing his hands. 

"Suppose so." Newt pursed his lips, waiting for his boyfriend to suggest going back to bed. Instead, Thomas furrowed his brow at him, before opening his mouth, then closing it again. The other boy blinked confusedly at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"Would you- do you maybe want to- I dunno, look at the stars?" The leader asked, sheepishly as he rubbed his neck. Newt beamed, nodding vigorously.

"I'd love too."

-

"So thats Spica?" The brunette pointed to a twinkle, temple resting against Newt's as they lay, on their backs, staring up at the night sky.

"No," The blond replied softly, wrapping his hand around Thomas' pointing one and moving it to point to the right star. His tone was nothing but soft and reassuring, albeit a little sleepy. He couldn't have cared less that Thomas was getting it wrong, he was just ecstatic that the boy even wanted to learn, and that he wasn't being made fun of. " _That's_ Spica," he corrected, "the one you just pointed to was Arcturus." he explained.

"Oh right." The brunette hummed. "How do you know all of this anyway?" He asked.

"Remember when we raided that old shopping centre? Right after we lost Minho?" He asked.

"It's a mall but yeah." The brunette nodded, earning a smack.

"I found this book. Started reading it, found it really interesting." he shrugged. "Was all about stars and space and stuff."

"Well I think it's sweet, how much you love it." Thomas hummed.

"There weren't any stars in the Glade." The blond sighed. "If there was I would have tried to teach lots of other people about it, like Alby!" he explained excitably. Thomas squeezed his hand, turning his head slightly to look at Newt. The two were lain opposite ways up, making it fairly easy to see each other.

"How is Alby these days anyway? He still have a thing for you?"

"I think so." Newt frowned slightly, "But he's good as far as I know." he shrugged. Thomas hummed in acknowledgement.

"Can't say I can figure out your type. I mean, Simon, Alby and then me? Bit random." he scoffed. Newt laughed softly, turning back up to the sky.

"Simon doesn't count. And my type is clearly sweet guys who are intelligent and know how to lead people I guess." he shrugged thoughtfully. The brunette hummed, sending warm breath down Newt's otherwise freezing neck, and he shivered involuntarily.

"Are you sure it's not the muscles?'

"I could take you both with my little finger."

"Not if I kissed you." he retorted.

"I'd smack you away." Newt shot back, not daring to glance at his boyfriend, knowing the smirk that would be plastered all over his face.

"You can't resist me."

"Wanna bet?" The blond raised his eyebrows at the brunette, who just leaned forward and pressed their lips together. The seconder immediately forgot about what he'd just said, wrapping his arms around the brunettes neck as Thomas propped himself up on his elbow, gaining leverage. He drew away a second later, Newt blinking up at the leader with his large dark eyes.

"Sure, now that I know you'll loose." he shrugged.

"You're a pain." the blond groaned, shoving him away playfully.

"And you love me." Thomas shrugged, drawing him closer. Newt whined in protest, sighing slightly when he related how warm Thomas was, and how much he wanted to give in.

"Jesus you're warm." he muttered.

"It's cuz I'm hot." Thomas shrugged back without a moments hesitation. Newt groaned into his jacket, rolling his eyes. The eye roll then turned to a yawn and he drew up closer into a ball in a desperate attempt to make himself warmer. Thomas seemed to notice, as his teasing stopped and his arms wrapped around the slender blond, gently carding through his hair. "You should get some sleep gorgeous."

"Mk." Newt barely protested, drawing himself closer to his boyfriend. Thomas planted a soft kiss on the crown of his head, Newt humming in approval. His eyes began to fluter shut as the brunette warmed him through, and time seemed to become distorted.

"Newt?" He heard after an indistinguishable amount of time. He hummed half-heartedly in acknowledgement, and felt Thomas swallow against him. "I love you."

The blond was tired, and he wasn't really thinking about the weight of his words. Because of course, Newt loved him back. If he didn't, would he have hurt Ben for him? Would he have followed him and backed him on almost all of his decisions? Would he have trusted and been there for Thomas when the brunette was trying to get them across the scorch? Would he have trusted Thomas' insane plan to get Minho back, and been there when Thomas was loosing hope, even if he himself didn't really believe that they could save the brunette? Would he have killed himself to keep Thomas safe? 

Nah, probably not.

"I love you too Tommy."

And with that, the two of them fell into an undisturbed sleep, under the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ya BOI MIGHT CRY :') y'all thanks so much for the support on this fic especially, cuz I was kinda self conscious about it and wasn't sure it was that great lmao. But y'all are sweet and my actual motivation!  
> If you wanna know what I'm doing next, go to the notes of chapter 37, the info is there.  
> Thanks for the support, and thanks for letting this fic continue lmao. I love you all <333  
> Edit: Oh, and ofc, one shot suggestions are always welcome <33


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